The use of nuclear energy in Uruguay is prohibited by law 16.832 of 1997. Despite this, the country has several institutions that regulate its use, such as the Center for Nuclear Research (Centro de Investigaciones Nucleares) or the National Regulation Authority on Radiological Protection (Autoridad Reguladora Nacional en Radioprotección). Furthermore, for several years Uruguay had a small nuclear reactor for research and personnel training. It was brought from the United States in 1964 and began to work in the building of the Center for Nuclear Research in Malvin Norte in 1978. It was turned off because of the detection of corrosion in 1985 and all nuclear fuel was removed. A year later, the Chernobyl and Goiânia nuclear accidents occurred. This influenced public opinion, and in 1988 —during the first presidency of Julio Maria Sanguinetti— a cooperation agreement of nuclear energy between Uruguay and Canada was signed, in which they planned the construction of a nuclear plant in the city of Paso de los Toros. The announcement caused a social unrest and it was decided to open a debate on nuclear energy. As a result, the Parliament did not ratify the agreement, and they passed the aforementioned law prohibiting nuclear energy in the country. The energy crisis in Uruguay in 2007 led to Uruguay reopening the nuclear debate under the presidency of Tabaré Vázquez, when the Executive Branch established a multiparty committee devoted to the study of the use of nuclear energy to generate electricity and the installation of a nuclear power plant. The Fukushima accident stimulated the discussions of different scopes, especially political and social. In July 2011 the government announced that Uruguay was soon to enter Phase 1 of an evaluation of nuclear energy, providing 10 million Uruguayan pesos from the national budget to hire specialist advisers, consulting the population and reviewing the human resources and technology available.
Institutions
National Regulation Authority on Radiological Protection The National Regulation Authority on Radiological Protection depends on the Ministry of Industry, Energy and Mining. It was created by articles 173 and 174 of Law 17930 of December 19, 2005. It is the only one in Uruguay controlling emissions of ionizing radiations. It has technical and professional independence and is not linked to any institution related to nuclear energy except those that control the safety of who are exposed to emissions.
National Atomic Energy Commission Since Law 15809 (article 342) created by the National Office of Nuclear Technology, the National Atomic Energy Commission (Comisión Nacional de Energía Atómica) came to be chaired by the director of the new executive unit, and became committed to advise the Executive on concerning national and international nuclear policy. In January 1996 the Commission was merged with the National Office of Nuclear Technology.
National Office of Nuclear Technology The National Office of Nuclear Technology (Dirección Nacional de Tecnología Nuclear) was created by Law 15809 (art. 340) in 1986, with the mission to run the subprogram "Promotion of Nuclear Technology" onto the program 012 "Research for Application of Nuclear Energy", which is responsible for planning, coordinating and undertaking advocacy of nuclear technology, acting on the basis of general guidelines established by the National Nuclear Policy.
Centre of Nuclear Research
The Centre of Nuclear Research (Centro de Investigaciones Nucleares, abbreviated as CIN) was established in 1966 as a multidisciplinary research institute, within the framework of an agreement between the University of the Republic (Udelar) and the National Atomic Energy Commission. With the creation of Udelar's School of Sciences in 1990, the Central Directing Council of the university decided to incorporate the institute within the scope of this school. The CIN is the only infrastructure in the country ready, equipped and which has trained personnel to work and handle radioactive materials.
History
Purchase and installation of a nuclear research reactor In 1964 the United States government organized, in the US, a conference titled "Atoms for Peace", to which was brought a small low-powered reactor for research purposes. when it concluded, the Uruguayan government offered to buy it from the United States. Therefore, both governments —with the assistance of the International Atomic Energy Agency— signed a leasing agreement in 1965 under which the United States transferred 16049.57 grams of uranium to Uruguay —of which 3182.63 grams were of uranium-235— in order to be used as reactor fuel; and fissile materials consisting of five curie-plutonium-beryllium neutron sources with 79.98 grams of plutonium and two fission counters each containing 1.51 grams of isotope 235U in 1.68 grams of uranium. In a second agreement, the United States transferred a research reactor to Uruguay, and promised to provide technical assistance with installation. In return, Uruguay agreed to pay for the reactor, the fees for the use of nuclear fuel and agreed to not transfer under any circumstances this fuel to third states outside the agreement. The 100 KW reactor was originally launched between 1959 and 1962 during the exhibition of the Atomic Energy Commission of the United States to South America, and was settled in Uruguay in the 1970s for educational, research and technical staff training purposes, placed in the building of the Center of Nuclear Research (Malvín Norte). Half of the building was intended for the reactor, manufactured by Lockheed Nuclear Products of Marietta (Georgia), purchased with a state investment of two million Uruguayan pesos of that time, including installation costs. Subsequently, Uruguay invested 20 million Uruguayan pesos from the government budget to construct the building and put it into operation. Law 13640, article 259 established that the reactor was the property of Uruguayan government and remained under the purview of the National Atomic Energy Commission. This reactor was operational from the late 1970s to 1985, until it was shut down due to corrosion problems; fuel elements were removed from the core and put into dry storage, waiting to be transported to United States. The installation of this facility did not have any public opinion controversies.
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