Crack open a bottle of Argentine wine and the chances are it will have come from Mendoza - a province bordering Chile famous for its spectacular snowy peaks, adventure sports and pristine blue skies. The province produces 70 per cent of Argentina's wines, as well as olives, fruit and preserves and is a magnet for tourists seeking to get back to nature and enjoy the good life.

But the rugged, red-hued hills in San Rafael, in the heart of Mendoza, are also home to a long-mothballed uranium mine and a plant to concentrate the mineral ore into yellowcake. With world uranium prices that have doubled in the past year and Argentina planning a big expansion of nuclear power to stave off growing energy shortages, the government's atomic energy agency would love nothing more than to restart operations, which it says have been proven both safe and clean.