“There is no future in given up our nuclear history” Nostalgia and developmental imaginary in a discussion about nuclear energy in Argentina

Abstract

In 2014 Argentina signed an agreement with China to build new nuclear reactors in the country. Relate to that agreement, it was planned the construction, in charge of a local firm, of a CANDU reactor. This choice generated consensus among nuclear experts due to local experience in handling this technology and its fuel. However, after the economic and financial crisis of 2018, that technological option was displaced by the decision to buy a reactor of different technology. Nuclear experts questioned that decision arguing against the discontinuity of the technological pattern in Argentina. This text analyzes, first, what arguments about nuclear development in Argentina articulate the current discussion and how they connect past and present and, second, what is enact by using the past in this specific discussion about reactors.