The 75th anniversary of Argentina’s National Atomic Energy Commission (CNEA – Comisión Nacional de Energía Atómica) was celebrated at the RA-10 multi-purpose research reactor nearing completion at the Ezeiza Atomic Centre (CAE – El Centro Atómico Ezeiza) in Buenos Aires province. Leading nuclear specialists spoke about Argentina’s achievements and future plans, including CNEA President Dr Germán Guido Lavalle and Dr Demian Reidel, President of the Argentine Nuclear Council and head of Nucleoeléctrica Argentina SA (NA-SA). The ceremony was broadcast simultaneously in all the atomic and regional centres of the CNEA.
Dr Lavalle listed the five milestones that the CNEA seeks to fulfil in the next year: achieving RA-10 criticality; reconditioning the Industrial Heavy Water Plant (PIAP – Planta Industrial de Agua Pesada); restarting uranium mining; launching the Argentine Protontherapy Centre; and restarting uranium enrichment.
Dr Lavalle noted: “We have a National Atomic Energy Commission that, based on technological development and the training of human resources, was the platform for the emergence of companies in the nuclear sector that today compete in the world, export, generate work and offer services in Argentina. This is a real success for state policy.” However, the challenge is to re-create the conditions to generate more technology-based companies. “We must renew ourselves so that the CNEA is a new development and launch platform for the country”, he said, stressing the need to continue training human resources to accommodate generational change.
Dr Reidel highlighted the strategic role of the Argentine Nuclear Plan outlined by President Javier Milei in December 2024. This includes reactivating existing plants, building new ones, and exploring small modular reactor (SMR) technology. The plan aims to increase nuclear power’s contribution to Argentina’s energy mix, potentially reaching 20% of total electricity generation by 2030.
“The future is nuclear and Argentina is called to lead it,” said Dr Reidel. “With the development of the ACR-300, we are going to offer the world a clean, stable and scalable energy source. The ACR-300, a 300 MWe technological wonder designed by Argentine engineers, is a centrepiece of the Nuclear Plan, which will position our country at the forefront of the new energy revolution.”
Argentina’s state-owned private technology company INVAP (INVestigación APlicada – applied research), patented the ACR-300 in the US in 2024. The project, which initially aims to produce four ACR-300 reactors, is backed by an unnamed American investor, Reidel said in May. Argentina will not invest any money into the reactor but will be a stakeholder instead, he added.
In an earlier interview with Infobae in March, Reidel said the ACR-300 “is an advanced design, with many interesting characteristics, and that puts us in the situation of being one of the first countries in the world, if not the first, to be able to develop this technology and commercially sell these reactors” He added: “That is, Russia already has them, for example, but it is not in a clear situation to sell them. Basically, and without going into too much specific detail, I can say that Argentina today has a very great competitive advantage in this.”
Speaking at the anniversary ceremony, he noted: “Let’s start with the construction of four modules on the Atucha site, which will almost double the installed nuclear capacity of the country,” he told the anniversary celebrations. “This is only the first stage. Then, we will license this technology in the rest of the world. This will not only transform our energy matrix, it will also change the export matrix of Argentina. We have a huge competitive advantage: extraordinary human capital and our own technology.”
CNEA was founded in 1950 by decree of the National Executive Power, with a mission to consolidate Argentina as a leading nation in the peaceful and safe use of nuclear energy. Selecting the RA-10 as venue of the ceremony, was symbolic as the reactor aims to guarantee the self-sufficiency of radioisotope production and open new export opportunities for Argentina. It will also allow the production of other strategic materials, such as doped silicon, used in electronic devices.
The RA-10 – a 30 MWt open-pool research reactor is based on the OPAL radioisotope production reactor that INVAP supplied to Australia in 2007. It will replace the 10 MWt RA-3 reactor on the same site, which began operations in 1967. The RA-10 will have a complex of associated facilities such as the Argentine Neutron Beam Laboratory (LAHN – Laboratorio Argentino de Haces de Neutrones) the Laboratory for the Study of Irradiated Materials (LEMI – Laboratorio de Ensayo de Materiales Irradiados) and the Radioisotope Production Plant (PPRF – Planta de Producción de Radioisótopos por Fisión).
Argentina’s nuclear industry is one of the most advanced in the region. The country has three NPPs – Embalse in Córdoba province, operational since 1983, and the Atucha Nuclear Complex, which encompasses Atucha and Atucha II near the town of Lima in Buenos Aires province. All three are pressurised heavy water reactors and together produce 10% of Argentina’s electricity.
Argentina was also constructing CAREM (Central ARgentina de Elementos Modulares) – a domestically-designed 32 MWe SMR, which was set to be the world’s first to begin operation. Development started in 1980 by CNEA and INVAP. Progress slowed in the early 2000s, but a 2006 government decree made the CAREM programme a national priority. A second executive order in 2008 made the project directly responsible to the President of Argentina. Initially, CAREM-25 was expected to start up in 2017, but this was put back to 2020 and further delays followed.
In mid-2021, a contract was signed whereby NA-SA resumed execution of construction, under the direction of CNEA allowing 36 months to complete the reactor building. A 2023 Technical Assistance Framework Agreement between CNEA and NA-SA led to optimism that the project would finally be completed. However, the election of Javier Milei as President in November 2023 ushered in radical economic reforms including cuts in public spending and social unrest and the CAREM project fell victim to this.
Lavalle said in 2024 that construction is “essentially finished” and remaining details “will be completed over the next few years”. The release added that the project will need new funds in the future and that CNEA will continue to work alongside the government with a focus on engineering instead of construction. “Works for the modular nuclear reactor CAREM are in place and have not stopped,” a CNEA communiqué stated. However no further progress has been made, and the project was not mentioned during the anniversary ceremony.
