The government of Mauricio Macri confirmed in his periodic report before the National Congress the intention to advance in the construction of two new nuclear power plants with the Chinese and the Russians, one of them in Río Negro.
This was established when the chief of the Nation’s cabinet, Marcos Peña, denied that the construction of two new nuclear power plants would be canceled. “In a framework of excellent relationship and understanding with our Chinese colleagues, Nucleoeléctrica and CNNC continue to advance with commercial contracts”.
“The project for the construction of the 4thand 5thnuclear power plants, due to its significant short-term budgetary impact and the importance of aligning the infrastructure development projects with the parameters of the fiscal policy, is in the process of being revised”, the chief of staff assured. He also added: “It is of vital importance, finally, that the investments have a frame of reference based on the feasibility of the projects”.
However, to carry out its plan, the national government must overcome two obstacles. One is a law that prohibits the installation of nuclear power plants in Río Negro. The other is the strong social rejection.
It must be remembered that after several oscillations around the location of the fifth nuclear power plant, the governor of Rio Negro, Alberto Weretilneck, ended up rejecting the possibility as a consequence of the broad popular provincial rejection to which the Catholic Church, environmental organizations, parties politicians and unions from Rio Negro joined.
