Argentina - World Nuclear Outlook Report

Projection of future nuclear capacity in Argentina in 2050

Argentina has three operable reactors and one 29 MWe small modular reactor (SMR), called CAREM, under construction. The country has announced plans to construct at least one additional large reactor, although government officials have indicated that four 300 MWe SMRs may be built instead.

Argentina was the first South American country to use nuclear energy for electricity production. Its first reactor, Atucha 1 (originally 319 MWe, uprated to 340 MWe) was connected to the grid in 1974.

In 2009, a law was passed to promote the construction of a new nuclear plant with one or two units in addition to the construction of the CAREM unit, as well as the extension of the operating lifetime of Embalse beyond its design lifetime of about 32 years.^31,32

Long-term operation

The 608 MWe Embalse reactor, a Candu 6 PHWR, underwent a three-year refurbishment project finishing in early 2019, to enable it to operate for a further 30 years. This Candu design is theoretically capable of achieving a second 30-year operating lifetime extension.

The two units at Atucha are both Siemens PHWRs, unique to Argentina. The first unit commenced operation in 1974. A 30-month refurbishment project, which is expected to allow the unit to operate for a further 20 years, commenced at the end of September 2024.

The larger unit 2 at Atucha (692 MWe) commenced operation in 2014 following a long construction period beset by delays.

New capacity

Large-scale reactors

Nucleoeléctrica Argentina (NA-SA) and China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC) signed an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract in 2022 for the development of a third large-scale unit at Atucha, with the planned unit to be an HPR1000 with a rated gross power of 1150 MWe. This proposal appears to have replaced earlier plans for the third large-scale unit at Atucha to be an additional Candu/PHWR. In turn, the planned HPR1000 may also have been superseded by the proposed construction of four 300 MWe SMRs at Atucha.23

Small-scale reactors

A 29 MWe SMR named CAREM has been under construction at the Atuchu site since 2014, but construction has been suspended on several occasions. The National Atomic Energy Commission (CNEA) envisions that commercial deployment would involve a multi-reactor plant consisting of four scaled-up reactors of around 120 MWe each.33

In March 2025, the chairman of the council of advisors of President Javier Milei said that the country would install four ACR-300 small modular reactors, with a combined 1200 MWe capacity, at the Atucha site, with the aim to have the first unit in operation by 2030. The ACR-300 design has been developed by national technical project company Invap.