Argentina creates nuclear office to become 'Saudi Arabia of uranium'

BUENOS AIRES, Dec. 19 (UPI) -- Argentina has formally created the Secretariat of Nuclear Affairs, a significant structural shift in the country's national energy strategy under President Javier Milei, aimed at positioning Argentina as a global energy leader and attracting large-scale investment.

In announcing the move, the government highlighted the country's strengths for developing a nuclear plan, including its pool of highly trained human capital and vast, low-temperature lands in Patagonia seen as suitable for hosting artificial intelligence data centers. These advantages, officials said, allow for a combination of clean nuclear energy and cutting-edge technology.

The plan will roll out in stages. The first phase involves building small modular reactors, or SMRs, at the Atucha Nuclear Power Plant site, already underway, to ensure nationwide energy supply and reduce power outages.

SMRs produce stable and low-cost electricity, making them well-suited to power AI data centers, and would position Argentina as a regional hub for digital innovation and nuclear energy exports.

In the second phase, the government plans to develop uranium reserves to meet domestic demand and turn Argentina into an exporter of high-value nuclear fuels.

The Economy Ministry summed up the strategy in a recent statement, saying the government aims to "turn Argentina into the 'Saudi Arabia of uranium.'"

This ambitious goal is based on the country's uranium reserves, estimated at 36,483 tons identified and concentrated in provinces such as Mendoza, San Juan and Chubut, according to a report by the National Mining Secretariat.

Those reserves could generate significant export volumes and position Argentina as a key supplier in a growing global market driven by the energy transition.

However, physicist Alberto Baruj urged caution.

"Argentina has enough uranium for its reactors for decades. It does not have the extraordinary reserves found in other countries. Talking about being the Saudi Arabia of uranium is an exaggeration that I cannot support from a technical standpoint," Baruj told UPI.

Baruj said Argentina could export uranium, thanks to its processing capacity. However, "it makes no sense to do so with raw ore. It would be far more convenient to process it for use in domestic reactors, including small modular reactors such as the domestically designed CAREM."

The new nuclear institutional framework will also be tasked with leading policy on the exploitation of rare earth elements, minerals critical for batteries, cellphones and green technology, as well as nuclear minerals, in coordination with other government agencies.

It will promote collaboration among mining companies, provincial governments and private actors to increase production of these resources and drive investment, working alongside the Mining Secretariat to advance nuclear mining projects, material processing and technological applications.

"The Secretariat of Nuclear Affairs is taking on roles that previously belonged to the National Atomic Energy Commission, which blurs the agency's place within the institutional structure," a respected nuclear sector source who requested anonymity told UPI.

In their view, amid a budget crisis at the commission, the creation of a new body "further endangers what has historically been the center of Argentina's nuclear activity. The inclusion of rare earth exploitation comes as a surprise within a nuclear affairs secretariat."

Baruj also questioned the need for the new agency, saying its stated purpose, coordinating the nuclear sector, already falls by law under the National Atomic Energy Commission.

"It is possible that with the creation of the Secretariat, the government is seeking greater political control over the sector," Baruj said. But, he added, creating a new secretariat is unnecessary if each institution fulfilled its assigned role.

"The massive loss of technical personnel with extraordinary capabilities must be reversed. But above all, the salary issue must be resolved, because the commission pays the lowest wages in the entire science and technology sector," he said.

Baruj said the priority should be to ensure continuity of key projects such as completion of the RA-10 multipurpose reactor, its associated neutron beam laboratory, the CEARP Proton Therapy Center and the heavy water industrial plant.

"Argentina's nuclear sector has sufficient capacity and depth to take on and carry out these projects. What is lacking, precisely, is political will," he said.Based o