Milei advisor Demián Reidel resigns as head of Nucleoeléctrica Argentina

Demián Reidel, a top advisor to President Javier Milei, resigned as president of Nucleoeléctrica Argentina SA (NA-SA) on Monday after a torrid few weeks at the helm of the state nuclear power firm.

Juan Martín Campos will now head the board of directors and run the company.

Reidel’s departure comes amid an internal crisis over alleged overpricing in contracts and questions about management irregularities, which included the suspension and removal of two key managers.

He had already stepped down from NA-SA’s board when initial denunciations of presumed overpricing and the steering of tenders emerged in the media.

The physicist and economist formally presented his resignation as company president at noon on Monday during a general shareholders’ meeting.

Government sources said Reidel – a personal friend of Milei who supported his successful presidential run in 2023 – may continue as an advisor to the head of state, a role he relinquished in July 2025 to join the company’s board of directors.

Reidel’s departure is one step in a broader clearing of the firm’s top deck. Only Diego Chaher, a figure close to spin doctor Santiago Caputo, will remain on the board.

Chaher, who heads the Agency for the Transformation of Public Enterprises, is seen as a key official in the privatisation process being pursued by the administration.

The renewal of the board of directors was formalised at a shareholders’ assembly held in the context of a change in the company’s shareholding, which has now passed from the Energy portfolio to the Nuclear Affairs Secretariat under Federico Ramos Nápoli, an official aligned with Caputo, Milei’s powerful advisor.

 

New board

Nuclear Affairs Secretary Ramos Nápoli made the changes official in a post on X, celebrating the new appointments.

“I am delighted to announce that today [Monday], due to the transfer of shares from the Energy to the Nuclear Affairs Secretariat, we held an assembly to appoint a new Board of Directors for Nucleoeléctrica Argentina SA whose mandate will be to maintain the highest standards of security and operation, complete the incorporation of private capital and extend the life of Atucha I,” he posted.

The new board of directors is headed by Campos, a biochemistry graduate of the Universidad de Buenos Aires (UBA) specialising in nuclear safety and reactors. He is also an ex-president of Dioxitek SA, with an extended track record in the nuclear sector.

Vice-president will be the chemical engineer Martín Porro, who also chairs the CNEA national atomic agency commission, or Comisión Nacional de Energía Atómica. Porro, who specialises in power reactors, was part of the team that activated Atucha II.

Aside from sole survivor Chaher, the new board also includes Diego Garde, a chemical engineer and manager of the Atucha I–II site with over 20 years in the company, and Javier Grinspun, designated by the CNEA as their Legal Affairs manager.

Ignacio Bruera, the CNEA administrative manager, and Juan Cantarelli, manager of the Central Nuclear Embalse nuclear power plant, were appointed as alternate directors.

After the assembly, the new board held a meeting to ratify Fernando Montserrat as general manager, a post he had been holding provisionally after the ouster of Marcelo Famá.

 

Overpricing claims

Reidel’s exit follows controversy over presumed irregularities in a tender for cleaning services. 

An internal complaint to the company’s Integrity Committee warned that a proposed contract would have involved significant overpricing compared with historic costs and market references.

The case resulted in the removal of two managers designated under his leadership: general manager Famá and Hernán Pantuso, the administrative coordination manager.

Another firm, Distribón SRL, had already taken a NA-SA tender to court, alleging that tender requirements appeared to steer the competition toward a narrow group of bidders. That case is now being investigated in the federal courtrooms of Campana.

The first charge involved contractual irregularities in a tender for cleaning services at the Atucha nuclear power plants. Atucha I-II plant manager Juan Pablo Nolasco Sáenz presented a warning as to overpricing, complaining also of attempts to rewrite already submitted technical reports and requests “to justify” more expensive bids.

NA-SA’s board of directors resolved to halt the tender and remove Famá and Pantuso – both appointed by Reidel and considered his confidants – from their posts.

 

Software tender

Reidel was also accused by the Asociación de Trabajadores del Estado (ATE) of approving a US$7-million software purchase for the plants that was heavily overpriced.

According to the union’s analysis, the SAP S/4HANA system cost significantly more than typical international market valuations, though figures vary by report.

On that basis, cancellation of that purchase was requested along with the cleaning services.

Reidel again fell under suspicion two weeks ago, when banking records published online indicated he had paid off personal debts of 825 million pesos in barely 18 days. According to an investigation by the El Disenso news portal, the official managed to liquidate liabilities which until mid-January placed him in a situation of “high risk of insolvency” within the financial system.

Reidel rejected the accusations, saying the funds he used to cancel personal debts were obtained in “transparent” operations “contained in his sworn statement.” He explained that he had sold a real-estate share and used that to liquidate liabilities.

 

Key advisor

Reidel, a physicist and economist trained at the Balseiro Institute, with postgraduate studies in economics at the University of Chicago and Harvard, became president of Nucleoeléctrica Argentina in April 2025, after serving as the head of President Javier Milei's Advisory Council. 

Before joining the government, Reidel forged a career in international finance: he worked at Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan Chase and co-founded an investment fund in the United States. These credentials made him one of the most influential economic advisers within the presidential circle, responsible for articulating the link between Milei's agenda and international markets.

His management of the nuclear company, however, was controversial. Beyond promoting the government's "nuclear revolution" – which sought to integrate nuclear energy into a technological development and a wider artificial intelligence development plan – it was marked by accusations of targeted purchases, possible million-dollar overpricing and a strong confrontation with the company's traditional technical line.

Reidel often appeared in the media, making headlines with several unorthodox and controversial public statements, including the claim that "Argentina's only problem is that it is populated by Argentines" – a remark delivered at a business event which earned him criticism from figures both inside and outside the ruling party.

 

– TIMES with agencies