National Atomic Energy Commission (CNEA), INVAP, Argentina

XIII — 1. Introduction

CAREM is an Argentine project to achieve the development, design, and construction of an innovative simple and small Nuclear Power Plant (NPP), which is jointly developed by CNEA (National Atomic Energy Commission) and INVAP. This nuclear plant has an indirect cycle reactor with some distinctive and characteristic features that greatly simplify the design, and contributes to a higher safety level. Some of the high level design characteristics of the plant are: integrated primary cooling system, self-pressurised primary system and safety systems relying on passive features.

The CAREM concept was first presented in March 1984 in Lima, Peru, during the IAEA conference on small and medium size reactors. CAREM was, chronologically, one of the first of the present new generation of reactor designs. The first step of this project is the construction of the prototype of about 27 MW(e) (CAREM-25). CAREM has been recognized as an International Near Term Deployment (INTD) reactor by the Generation IV International Forum (GIF).