\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t Demi\u00e1n Reidel resigned as the head of Nucleoel\u00e9ctrica Argentina, the state-owned company that manages the country\u2019s three nuclear power plants, amid corruption allegations.<\/p>\n
A spokesperson for the company told the Herald that Reidel filed his resignation on Monday, during Nucleoel\u00e9ctrica\u2019s shareholder meeting, but that it had been agreed upon days before.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Juan Mart\u00edn Campos, a manager of uranium products manufacturer Dioxitek, was appointed as the new president of the company. The rest of the board, except for the titular director Diego Chaher, was also removed.<\/p>\n
The news comes one week after the resignation of two managers of the company, both appointed by Reidel. General manager Marcelo Fam\u00e1 and administrative coordination manager Hern\u00e1n Pantuso had been targeted by an internal complaint stating that Nucleoel\u00e9ctrica had paid 1,000% more than originally budgeted for a software service and 140% than market prices for a cleaning service.<\/p>\n
Around the same time that the complaint became public, local media also reported that Reidel had accumulated debts of AR$880 million (US$ 605,500) with a high risk of insolvency on January 12 and paid it in whole just 18 days later. Reidel contested the accusations by posting heavily redacted documents on X.<\/p>\n
Two weeks ago, the Herald reported that the suspension of the two managers was the latest of several indications that Reidel was losing his grip on the company and his influence in the government. On top of that, in December, the national administration created the Nuclear Affairs Secretariat and appointed Federico Ramos N\u00e1poli as its head. Ramos N\u00e1poli is close to presidential advisor Santiago Caputo, who is at odds with Reidel\u2019s ally Karina Milei, the president\u2019s secretary general and sister.<\/p>\n
After Reidel\u2019s resignation, Ramos N\u00e1poli posted on X that he was \u201cpleased\u201d to announce the meeting to appoint the new board, \u201cwhose mandate will be to maintain the highest standards of safety and operation, complete the incorporation of private capital, and finalize the life extension of Atucha I.\u201d Like the new president of Nucleoel\u00e9ctrica, he was part of Dioxitek, the uranium products manufacturer. Ramos Nap\u00f3li did not name Reidel in his post.<\/p>\n
The newly-created secretariat absorbed some of the tasks of the National Commission of Atomic Energy (CNEA), which at the time was led by Germ\u00e1n Guido Lavalle, appointed by Reidel.<\/p>\n
Reidel has also been the target of criticisms among workers in the country\u2019s nuclear institutions, who accuse him of slashing budgets and salaries, as well as terminating signature projects. In September, the government announced it would privatize 44% of Nucleoel\u00e9ctrica.<\/p>\n
A controversial figure<\/p>\n
The ousted president of the company is a controversial figure in the government. In a summit where he tried to attract U.S. Big Tech companies to install their Artificial Intelligence (AI) data centers in Patagonia, he said that the region\u2019s problem is that it \u201cis populated by the Argentinians.\u201d<\/p>\n
He recently co-authored an article with President Javier Milei, who said that the two of them would win the Nobel Economics Prize.<\/p>\n
Reidel had also served as Milei\u2019s head advisor, a position from which he resigned last year. Back then, he said he was leaving \u201cto fully concentrate, as president of Nucleoel\u00e9ctrica, on the development of the Argentine Nuclear Plan.\u201d<\/p>\n
His plan, announced in 2024, is a joint venture between a foreign investor and INVAP, a state-owned company. It aims to build Argentina\u2019s first small modular reactor (SMR), called the ACR-300, to power AI data centers.<\/p>\n
However, in 2014, Argentina\u2019s National Commission of Atomic Energy (CNEA) had started construction on CAREM, an SMR developed entirely in the country. Shortly after taking office in December 2023, Milei slashed its funding and its construction \u2014 which was about 85%\u00a0 complete \u2014 ground to a halt.<\/p>\n
Due to the pay freeze in the state\u2019s nuclear sector, some engineers previously employed by the government \u2014 including some working on the CAREM \u2014 are flocking to Meitner, the company founded to build the ACR-300, sources close to the matter told the Herald.<\/p>\n
While some workers in the country\u2019s nuclear institutions celebrated his ousting, others posited that the dismantling and privatization plan for the company is still in place.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Demi\u00e1n Reidel resigned as the head of Nucleoel\u00e9ctrica Argentina, the state-owned company that manages the country\u2019s three nuclear power plants, amid corruption allegations. A spokesperson for the company told the Herald that Reidel filed his resignation on Monday, during Nucleoel\u00e9ctrica\u2019s shareholder meeting, but that it had been agreed upon days before.\u00a0 Juan Mart\u00edn Campos, a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":33969,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9506,457,9507,59],"tags":[9504,8802,9505,86],"class_list":["post-33968","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cnea","category-demian-reidel","category-invap","category-politics","tag-cnea","tag-demian-reidel","tag-invap","tag-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33968","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33968"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33968\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33969"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33968"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33968"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33968"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}