Las coaliciones promotoras y los contextos que llevaron al avance del proyecto atómico CAREM (central Argentina de elementos modulares) en Argentina entre 1976 y 2015

Abstract

While the way in which the State makes decisions regarding matters of public policy cannot be reduced to a simple universal explanation, it is, however, important to try to grasp why certain matters are of sufficient concern to be dealt with by the governmental apparatus. In an analysis of the more than 38-year history of the fully State-owned CAREM (Central Argentina de Elementos Modulares) nuclear power reactor, I use the advocacy coalition framework and the political contexts in which it advanced to examine the beliefs held by the actors that shaped the progress of the project throughout its chronology. Originally conceptualized in the 1970’s as part of a military program for naval propulsion, the reactor was presented as a civilian project in 1984 and went through ups and downs in its development until the 2006 Argentinian Nuclear Plan from which it derives its budget today. I argue that it was the dual-use possibility of nuclear technology (civilian and military) which allowed the project to advance through different regimes, democratic administrations and economic policies.