D. F Delmastro

Centro Atomico Bariloche (CNEA), San Carlos de Bariloche, Argentina

16.1 Introduction

About 50 years ago Argentina decided to use a natural uranium fuel cycle for electricity production using nuclear power plants (NPPs). This decision was aimed to allow control of the whole fuel cycle. Small and medium reactors based on heavy-water reactors (HWRs) were installed and many facilities were constructed for uranium conversion, special alloy and Zircaloy tube production, fuel element production and heavy-water production.

Since the 1950s Argentina has developed and constructed research reactors. This activity was very successful and research reactors were exported to Peru, Algeria, Egypt and Australia.

In the early 1980s Argentina developed uranium enrichment capabilities using the gas diffusion method. This achievement facilitates the use of enriched uranium in local NPPs and the Central Argentina de Elementos Modulores (CAREM) project started. This project consists of the development, design and construction of small NPPs based on integrated pressurized water reactors (iPWRs). First, a prototype of an electrical output of about 27 MW, CAREM 25, will be constructed in order to validate the innovation of the CAREM concept and then develop a commercial version. After several years of development the CAREM project had reached such a level that the Argentine government decided to construct a CAREM prototype. Several activities have been performed, allowing the start of the CAREM prototype construction in February 2014. Currently the CAREM project is the main activity in small modular nuclear reactor research in Argentina. These activities are briefly described in this chapter.