Construcción social de tecnologías. Análisis socio-técnico de los cambios del Reactor Nuclear Argentino RA-6 (1982-2018)

Abstract

The Argentine RA-6 nuclear reactor, located in the Atomic Center of the city of San Carlos de Bariloche, was inaugurated on October 26, 1982. The vision behind this project was to satisfy the needs of the Nuclear Engineering career at the Balseiro Institute. and contribute to the Argentine development of this type of reactors and associated technologies. For this reason, a flexible design concept was thought up and a dynamic technology management policy was promoted throughout this time. So much so, that the RA-6 was modified on several occasions during its more than 35 years of service, accompanying certain research and development needs of different groups. A crucial question that this thesis tries to answer is whether the trajectory of these changes was only a consequence of the general technological state of the art, or if, on the contrary, there is a social component that influenced them in one way or another.