Strapped for Energy, Chile Looks at Nuclear Option

– Burgeoning demand for electricity and steeper prices for natural gas imports are prompting Chile to consider nuclear power to address an energy shortfall that seems certain to intensify.

Producing no natural gas and almost no oil of its own, Chile relies on gas imports from Argentina, which is facing increasing pressure to supply its domestic market and has hiked the price of exports to its Andean neighbor.
Gas-rich Bolivia, to the north, refuses to sell gas to Chile because of a long-running dispute over landlocked Bolivia’s demand that it be given access to the sea.

To compound the problem, Chile’s economy is particularly vulnerable to energy shortages because a large part of it is based on copper mining, which is extremely energy-intensive.

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