Atucha I initiated its 2021 Programed outage.
Nucleoelectrica Argentina initiated its annual programed outage of the Nuclear Power Plant Atucha I. The activity started on August 28 and its duration will be seven weeks.
Monday 6 September 2021
More than 1500 people work in the outage, this is contemplating Nucleoelectrica Argentina´s personnel and 14 contracting companies, with the objective of completing 3500 planned tasks.
The objective of the programed outages is to comply with inspection, maintenance and relevant prevention tasks of a Nuclear Power Plant, which are executed every 12 months with the plant out of service, according to regulatory requirements.
These tasks include inspections, maintenance, performance of tests, disassembling and cleaning of systems and components. Additionally, tasks related with the Burned Fuel Elements Dry Storage building (ASCQ) and life extension of the facility take place.
Safety is Nucleoelectrica Argentina´s main value. In this sense, all the works are carried out complying with the safety principals, within the behavior expectations and work practices framework of the plant.
Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, the company implements strict prevention measures with the objective of protecting the health of workers and guarantee the safe operation of the three Argentinian nuclear power plants. During this scheduled outage, corresponding protocols continue to be applied in order to developed all the tasks in a safe manner.
Atucha I was connected to the National Electric System on March 19 of 1974 and on June 24 of the same year it began its commercial operation. Currently it counts with an electrical gross power of 362 electrical megawatts. During its trajectory it stood out for its operational excellence.
Although it is the first Argentine nuclear power plant, all its safety systems have been updated and comply with local and international requirements. Nucleoelectrica Argentina is executing the Atucha I Life Extension Project, the completion of which will allow to extend its operation for an additional twenty-four years at full power.-