Argentina’s National Atomic Energy Commission (CNEA – Comisión Nacional de Energía Atómica) has fired 61 workers employed on temporary contracts, including highly specialised technicians with extensive training, the Buenos Aires Herald reported.
CNEA headquarters was surrounded by military police officers in full riot gear, as employees staged a peaceful protest over the dismissals. Officers also entered and occupied the building, and videos shared on social media showed them escorting CNEA officials out including CNEA President Martín Porro while workers demanded explanations.
Those dismissed account for more than 17% of the approximately 350 CNEA employees working under temporary contracts, which were originally issued for one-year. This year, however, the agency began renewing those contracts every three months. The dismissed workers were notified by email that their contracts would end the following day. “The use of last-minute email notifications has become a recurring feature of mass layoffs since President Javier Milei took office,” the Buenos Aires Herald noted.
The CNEA Professionals’ Association condemned the dismissals, describing them as brutal. “CNEA employees on temporary contracts include highly trained professionals, technicians and administrative staff whose work is essential to maintaining our facilities and ensuring the continuity of strategic national projects,” the association said in a statement.
“This institutional hollowing out and dismantling jeopardises decades of effort and investment in the sector,” it added, demanding that all terminated contracts be reinstated and calling for “an immediate end to the austerity policies that undermine national science and technology”.
According to Rodolfo Aguiar, Secretary General of the State Workers’ Association (ATE – Asociación Trabajadores del Estado), some of those dismissed had “more than 10 years of service supporting critical areas of Argentina’s nuclear development”. ATE called a protest outside CNEA’s main headquarters to denounce the layoffs.
The union is opposing the austerity and state-downsizing measures enacted by Milei. ATE has orchestrated continuous strikes, protests, and building occupations in response to tens of thousands of state contract non-renewals and direct sackings. The union denounces the dismantling of scientific, technological, and regulatory bodies. It argues that closing down state offices eliminates critical infrastructure and directly threatens Argentine economic and information sovereignty. It opposes legislative reforms designed to curtail the right to strike and limit collective bargaining agreements.
CNEA President Porro accused the protesting workers of causing “unrest” inside the building and insisted that there had been “no layoffs of scientific or strategic personnel”. He said the 61 employees had been hired on temporary contracts in 2023, before President Milei took office, and “mostly performed administrative duties”.
He said the dismissals were part of a “series of changes” aimed at the “growth and modernisation” of the CNEA. “It should be made clear that no licensed operators, researchers or specialised personnel were laid off. Let there be no doubt: we want to strengthen the CNEA, not weaken it,” he wrote on X.
In response to Porro’s post, CNEA technician Paula Alderete replied: “I am the only operator of the country’s only scanning electron microscope, and you still decided to terminate my contract. You’re lying.”
According to a list of dismissed employees published by local media, those laid off include several engineers and other specialised workers, among them chemical engineer Lucas Di Donatis, a radiation safety analyst, and electronic engineer Alejandro Valentín Coria, an instrumentation and control supervisor.
Both had been working on the CAREM-25, a small pressurised water reactor and the first nuclear power reactor designed entirely in Argentina. It was on track to be the world’s first operating SMR before the construction was halted when it was about 85% complete following layoffs and funding cuts. ATE views the abandonment of CAREM as a destruction of sovereign scientific infrastructure
The CNEA said CAREM was not commercially viable. Instead, the Milei administration is promoting the ACR-300 SMR, patented in the US by Argentinian company INVAP. The ACR-300 (Advanced Compact Reactor) is a medium-sized design developed by INVAP based on Candu heavy-water technology but with light water cooling. The project is spearheaded by Meitner Energy, a private consortium combining US capital (Black River Technology) and global backing. It is marketed specifically as a scalable, highly profitable commercial commodity geared toward international export and private energy grids.
In March 2025, the government said they would build four ACR-300 units at the Atucha complex, with the first reactor expected to come online by 2030, but there have been no official updates on the project since then. A document laying out the case for a change in direction in Argentina’s nuclear policy was presented in late May with the goal of prioritising foreign investment and fostering high-value-added exports.
That same month, the Milei government took another step toward privatising Argentina’s nuclear sector by authorising the initiation of an administrative procedure that could lead to the sale of strategic CNEA assets.
