Latin America mulls nuclear power revival

Nuclear power is gaining traction in Latin America as countries see small modular reactors (SMRs) as options for remote regions that are not connected to power grids.

"The advent of SMRs are behind Latin America's new interest in nuclear energy, because they do not need to be large and do not require large investments," said Modesto Montoya, a nuclear physicist and former president of the Peruvian Institute for Nuclear Energy.

Nuclear power is not a prevalent source of electricity in Latin America, producing around 2pc of the region's power consumption. There are seven nuclear power plants with a total capacity of 5.07GW in operation in the region, located in Argentina, Mexico and Brazil. Argentina has a 32MW SMR plant under construction.

But the role of nuclear could increase in the region. Argentina, Brazil and Mexico are providing technical advice to countries that are considering including the technology in their power systems.

Earlier this month, El Salvador approved a nuclear energy law and signed a memorandum with the Argentinian government for scientific and technology cooperation for nuclear power.

Daniel Alvarez, director of the Agency for Implementation of the Nuclear Energy Program in El Salvador, told Argus that the country was "following the book to develop nuclear power. We want to convert El Salvador into a nuclear country."

The country needs to replace fossil fuels as half of the country's power capacity is fueled by bunker fuel. It has 204MW of geothermal capacity installed and, while solar energy is possible, the country's size limits the amount of physical space to add large solar plants.

The government's plan is to have a research reactor and 400 people trained to manage a nuclear plant within seven years. The next step would be the construction of SMR. "We have to include alternatives for power generation and SMRs are a very good option. We want to include them in our transition to 2050,"Alvarez said.

SMRs are also seen as a solution to the energy problem in the northern jungle city of Iquitos, in Peru, energy and mines minister Romulo Mucho said. It is one of the world's largest cities that is not accessible by road and not connected to the national grid, relying primarily on fuel oil for power generation. Peru has had experience with nuclear technology since 1988, when it opened the nuclear research facility, RASCO.

Neighboring Bolivia has been working on a small nuclear program since the previous decade with Russia's Rosatom. It has a center for nuclear medicine and is finishing a small research reactor.

Ronald Veizaga, deputy minister of electricity and renewable energies, said Bolivia began the program to improve medical treatment for cancer, but has changed gears. "Critics claim SMRs are expensive, but it is more expensive to have blackouts affecting your population and industry," he said.

Traditional nuclear

Paraguay is considering a more ambitious path, looking at a traditional nuclear plant.

"We need to make political decisions if we want to explore a SMR or a large-scale plant to generate 1GW or more," said Jorge Molina, executive secretary of Paraguay's Radiology and Nuclear Authority.

Paraguay could work with Argentina and Brazil to create a regional platform. "Our idea is part of regional integration. Our neighbors are already helping us develop our regulations," he said.

But the construction of nuclear plants comes with challenges including high costs, time, labor and materials. Brazil began work on the 1.4GW Angra 3 nuclear plant in 1984 but works have been halted and resumed several times since then. The plant is roughly 67pc complete and has been in limbo since 2015. The country's Bndes development bank recently concluded that abandoning the construction of the project would be less costly than completing it.

By Lucien Chauvin