Javier Milei's Argentina is betting on nuclear power without hesitation. The Spanish-speaking country already has three nuclear power plants on its territory (Atucha 1, Atucha 2, and Embalse), which generate 8% of total electricity, and has now decided to build a fourth, which will be the first to be financed entirely by private capital. To invest $1,2 billion for a 300 MW modular nuclear reactor North of Buenos Aires, still in the Atucha area, is the Argentine-American joint venture Meitner Energy, founded in 2024 with headquarters in the Argentine capital and also in Dallas and the United Kingdom.
Since this year, the nuclear energy company has been led by Argentine CEO Teófilo Lacroze, former president of Shell Argentina and Raízen Argentina. The 300 MW capacity isn't particularly high for a plant of that size, but it's still impressive. capable of powering approximately 200.000 to 300.000 homes, as well as, according to Meitner Energy, data centers and large industrial plants. The announcement was made by Adrian Ravier, spokesman for President Milei, who said that the executive's plans include It is expected to be operational by 2030.
The government claims that the project it won't cost a single dollar of public money, and in return it will create around 2.000 jobs, which however will partly compensate for the redundancies that the "chainsaw" therapy imposed by Milei has also imposed on Cnea (Comisión Nacional de Energía Atómica), the Argentine public body responsible for research, development and promotion of peaceful applications of nuclear energy (the equivalent of the Italian ENEA).
According to the unions, in fact, of the approximately 4.000 Cnea workers, over 800 have left the sector since 2023 (between layoffs, retirements and resignations), while around 60 workers have been laid off only in the latest round of cuts, a few weeks ago. Since Milei took over the presidency in December 2023, Cnea's budget has been reduced by 58%, according to a calculation by the fact-checking site Chequeado based on official data.
