Atucha I and II contribute more than 1,000 megawatts to the National Electric System and provide electricity to homes and industries every hour. Managed by the state-owned company Nucleoeléctrica Argentina, these nuclear power plants are located a few kilometers from Lima, in the district of Zárate, Buenos Aires province. Along with Embalse, they generate 10% of the country's energy.

Sebastián Arralde, Eugenia Ermacora, and Diego Garde, nuclear engineers who were trained in the public scientific and technological system, shared with Télam the details of their meticulous work in the unprecedented repair of Atucha II. This repair, completed entirely by a team of 200 Argentine professionals, with the support of over 3,000 from Nucleoeléctrica Argentina, positioned Argentine talent at the forefront of the nuclear industry.

Eugenia Ermacora, a chemical engineer from the National University of Litoral, has been working at the Atucha Nuclear Complex for a decade. She believes that the nuclear industry is fascinating not only for its energy generation, but also for the constant challenges it presents in terms of safety and quality standards. She says, "Our nuclear industry has the potential and knowledge, and that's why it is necessary to take care of it and promote it since it enables people's quality of life and the country's development."

Operating a nuclear power plant is not easy. It requires a specific license, granted rigorously by the Nuclear Regulatory Authority, and highly qualified and trained personnel. Ermacora highlights the importance of the rigorous scientific and technical standards followed by everyone, from those operating the control room, which houses the dozens of control panels that ensure the safety of the nuclear power plant, to those working in radiologically controlled areas.

Atucha operates by generating heat through the fission of uranium atoms, which occurs under special conditions to initiate a controlled chain reaction. This process, which is invisible to the naked eye, raises the temperature of the heavy water circulating inside the reactor and transfers the heat to a steam generator. The steam, in turn, drives turbines connected to an electric generator, ultimately producing electricity. Ermacora explains that every modification or intervention undergoes a series of exhaustive steps to guarantee radiological safety, including thermodynamic calculations and checks of the famous yellow protective jumpsuit.

The repair of Atucha II, which took place in 2022, posed a unique challenge. During a routine inspection, it was discovered that one of the four separators in the reactor had detached and was obstructing the coolant channel. Removing this 14-kilogram, 160-millimeter diameter, and 90-millimeter height metal piece from the bottom of the reactor, located 14 meters from the lid, proved to be a difficult task.

Sebastián Arralde, engineer specialized in nuclear energy from the Balseiro Institute, and head of the reactor engineering division at Atucha, explains that international suppliers were consulted for possible repairs, but their solutions required uncovering the reactor, which was both costly and time-consuming. The Argentine team found a low-cost and definitive solution. This repair, which required the meticulous work of a multidisciplinary team of 200 professionals, lasted 10 months and became a world record.

Diego Garde, a chemical engineer from the National Technological University and current Deputy Operations Manager of Atucha I and II, emphasizes that the Atucha power plants are prototypes without any similar models in the world. Therefore, when unique problems arise, they feel a survival instinct to repair them on their own. The repair process involved eight months of analysis and design of "unprecedented" tools and two months of practice on a full-scale mockup.

The team developed a special clamp tool to grab the detached separator and placed it on a cutting table, where it was cut into four sections without damaging the structure. Each section was then removed using an electroerosion technique. To prevent future detachment of the remaining three separators, a welding tool was created specifically for radioactive water.

The success of this repair project, which highlights the potential and knowledge of the Argentine nuclear industry, reinforces the need to support and promote the industry for the well-being and development of the country. Eugenia Ermacora concludes, "Our nuclear industry has the potential and knowledge, and that's why it is necessary to take care of it and promote it since it enables nothing less than people's quality of life and the country's development."