Macri halts construction of Argentina's 4th nuclear power plant, laying off 2,400 and irking China.

[forest444]

Two weeks after Argentine President Mauricio Macri announced he would "reevaluate" the 2014 agreement between China and Argentina to cooperate on the construction of Atucha III (Argentina's 4th nuclear power plant), the Secretary General of the UOCRA construction union local in Zárate, Julio González, confirmed that the government had fired all 2,400 employees involved in the project.

"This is the sad reality we're living with today. Due to the change of government, there was a series of abrupt changes that affected work on the fourth nuclear power plant for political reasons. They (the Macri administration) did not consider that there are many heads of households that today are left out of work and with no employment alternatives," González said in an interview with Gustavo Sylvestre on Radio del Plata.

The subcontractor overseeing the project, Nucleoeléctrica SA, had lobbied the administration to keep a minimum crew of 1,100 workers; but both the UOCRA union and Macri's Labor Minister, Jorge Triaca, rejected this proposal.

The decision to shelve the 750 MW Atucha III reactor, which was designed in Argentina and was to be partly financed and supplied by China, may have negative geopolitical as well as economic consequences. "The involvement of the Chinese is giving Macri's backers hives," said an industry source with knowledge of the Atucha III project. "They are bristling at the idea; but it would be foolish to say no to the Chinese."

He added that the decision to walk away from the project probably did not originate in the Macri administration; but rather "in U.S. business interests, which have been intensely lobbying Macri to nix the project."

The city of Zárate, an industrial hub of 100,000 people about 50 miles north of Buenos Aires, meanwhile is evaluating the possibility of taking over the construction phase of the project, including 12 different ancillary public works projects.

At: https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=es&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.infonews.com%2Fnota%2F287378

And: https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=es&u=http://www.lapoliticaonline.com/nota/96578/&prev=search

[Judi Lynn]

1. Macri is a fantastic ass. My God. He's selling the country out from under the citizens' feet.

#### Macri.

I used to think George W Bush couldn't keep doing hideous things starting the first day of his Residency, but it did get worse every day he was there.

Looks as if Macri might even beat his record.

Unbelievable.

[bemildred]

2. I am reminded of the coup in Venezuela in 2002.

The impatience, had to try to undo all of Hugo's works immediately. Up to now, I have not been convinced the State Dept. had their hands in this, now I see they do.