Half of Argentina left without electricity due to nuclear accident
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On Wednesday, March 1, residents of Buenos Aires and nearby provinces suffered a massive power outage due to a massive fire. Almost 40% of the country’s territory and about 20 million people were left without electricity.
The fire broke out in the north-west of Argentina, where the air temperature reaches 40 degrees. Grass caught fire in the pastures, after which the fire spread to power lines and provoked a short circuit in the entire national power grid. In turn, this disabled the power unit of the Atucha I nuclear power plant, which has been continuously operating since June 1974.
Despite the fact that, according to preliminary data, abnormal heat is the cause of the fire, the Argentine government believes that the possibility of deliberate arson cannot be ruled out. Officials from the Department of the Economy and the Department of Energy have petitioned a federal court to “immediately take all necessary action to bring those responsible to justice” in the fire.
According to the Ministry of Energy of the country, due to power outages, residents of the provinces of Santa Fe, Cordoba, Mendoza, San Juan, as well as the northwestern regions of Argentina, were most affected. According to the authorities of the country, about 6 million houses were left without electricity.
According to the National Weather Service, Buenos Aires has recorded its hottest summer since records began in 1906.
In June 2019, Argentina already experienced a similarly massive power outage, when a short circuit in the network in the province of Entre Rios left almost the entire country without power. On the day the country celebrated Father’s Day, almost 50 million people were left without electricity and some provinces even had to postpone their local elections. The company responsible for the incident was fined by the government because the catastrophe, with a power outage of more than 14 hours, was due to a bug in the system.
Authors – Jose Pablo Criales;
Source – El Pais
Translation – Daniil Prilepsky, Moskovskaya Pravda
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