Argentina’s Embalse nuclear plant, in the province of Córdoba, has resumed commercial operation after a three-year upgrade programme that was completed in January, the country's Ministry of Energy announced.
Embalse, a Candu 6 pressurised heavy water reactor (PHWR), achieved criticality in January following extensive refurbishment to extend its operating life for another 30 years. Embalse began commercial operation in 1984 and was closed for the extended upgrading outage at the end of 2015. The plant will now start delivering power to the grid at a capacity of 683MWe, which is 6% more than its previous size.
Modernisation work carried out at Embalsie included reactor retubing, steam generator replacement and a capacity uprate.
Argetina's Secretary of Energy Gustavo Lopetegui, president of Nucleoeléctrica Argentina, Julián Gadano, and the director of the Life Extension Project of the Embalse Nuclear Power Plant, Omar Semmoloni, headed the return to service ceremony at Embalse in May.
Representatives from China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC) and companies including Canada's SNC Lavalin and L3 MAPPS, Italys' Ansaldo and the Argentia's CONUAR, IMPSA, Techint, SACDE, participated, amont others, Nucleoeléctrica Argentina said.
Embalse is the third Candu 6 reactor to undergo a full refurbishment, after Wolsong 1 in South Korea and Point Lepreau in Canada.
Photo: Argetina's Secretary of Energy Gustavo Lopetegui, president of Nucleoeléctrica Argentina, Julián Gadano, and the director of the Life Extension Project of the Embalse Nuclear Power Plant, Omar Semmoloni, headed the return to service ceremony in May (Credit: Nucleoeléctrica Argentina)
