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Learning by Doing: The First Spanish Nuclear Plant

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 May 2018

Abstract

In the nuclear sector, turnkey projects can be considered an investment in obtaining information through “learning by doing” to capture rents from the next generation of reactors. As the first U.S. turnkey export project, the first Spanish nuclear power plant served that purpose and paved the way for the subsequent growth of the nuclear sector, for both Spanish and U.S. firms. Making use of archival material, we analyze the networks created by the government, experts, and business leaders, which sought to obtain, accumulate, and learn from the scarce and conflicting information about atomic technology that was available at the time. We also discern how firms on both sides of the Atlantic acquired and perfected the specific capabilities required to build a commercial nuclear reactor.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © The President and Fellows of Harvard College 2018 

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References

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25 The reactor was paid for by a grant from the U.S. government of $350,000 and a loan from EXIM of $385,000. (Decreto ley 4 de abril 1957, Gaceta de Madrid [Law of the 4th of April 1957, Published in the Government Gazette]).

26 JEN report 14 Apr. 1961, Secretaría files, box 133, ABE-IEME.

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29 Ibid.

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31 They hoped that by 1968–1970, “the kWh prices from nuclear origin” would be competitive “with those produced in thermal plants that use imported fuels.” JEN report, Oct. 1961, Secretaría files, box 133, ABE-IEME.

32 Ibid.

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35 J. M. Oriol y Urquijo, who was also president of UNESA since its creation.

36 Act of the JEN, 23 Oct. 1961, Secretaría files, box 133, ABE-IEME.

37 Ibid.

38 J. M. Otero Navascués, member of the army and a physicist trained in Zurich and Berlin, is considered to be the founder of nuclear research in Spain. He presided over the JEN embryo as executive vice president (1948–1950), general manager (1951–1958), and president (1958–1974). In 1965, Otero assumed the presidency of the European Energy Society, and in 1968 he became governor of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

39 Act of the JEN, 4 Apr. 1961, Secretaría files, box 133, ABE-IEME.

40 Identical debates occurred at the same time in organizations such as the European Atomic Energy Society. Act of the JEN, 6 July 1961, Secretaría files, box 133, ABE-IEME. Eurochemical was created in 1957 as a joint initiative by members of the European Agency for Atomic Energy to process nuclear uranium. Spain entered the shareholding Eurochemic in 1959. Oficina de Enlace del FMI-BIRF-OECD-OCDE 1964–1966, Secretaría files, boxes 435 and 133, ABE-IEME.

41 Phase one would be done in the Canoga Park (U.S.) facilities with the “full participation” of five or six Spanish engineers and would be completed with American technical assistance on the JEN premises in Madrid over a period of twenty-seven months. Otero to Gregorio López Bravo, 9 Jan. 1962, Secretaría files, box 253, ABE-IEME.

42 Jaime MacVeigh to Gregorio López Bravo, handwritten report, Oct. 1961, Secretaría files, box 133, ABE-IEME.

43 Ibid.

44 Ibid. (emphasis added).

45 MacVeigh, Jaime, Ensayo sobre un programa de energía nuclear en España (Madrid, 1957)Google Scholar. He also condemned the Spanish uranium program, “on the very questionable assumption that natural uranium would be used in the future.” He guessed correctly: between 1970 and 1980, Spanish natural uranium production would not surpass 250 tons.

46 MacVeigh to López Bravo, Secretaría files, box 133, ABE-IEME.

47 Otero to López Bravo, 9 Jan. 1962, Secretaría files, box 253, ABE-IEME.

48 Pacific Gas & Electric Co. of California 1961 Report, Secretaría files, box 139, ABE-IEME.

49 De la Torre, Joseba and del Mar Rubio-Varas, Maria, La financiación exterior del desarrollo industrial español a través del IEME (1950-1982) (Madrid: 2015), chap. 5Google Scholar.

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51 “La central nuclear de Zorita producirá más de mil millones de kw-hora al año,” ABC, 6 July 1965, 50. The plans for a second reactor never materialized.

52 Between 1950 and 1970, Madrid's population multiplied by 2.3 percent, reaching four million inhabitants in the process of accelerated industrialization. In 1950, the city represented 6 percent of the Spanish population; by 1970, this figure had reached 11 percent.

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55 The government argued that it could not attach specific conditions to an “authorization” given that the legislation to rule nuclear facilities was still under study, thus the government used an alternative formulation: “agreement in principle.” Orden de 27 de marzo 1963, BOE [Official Bulletin of the State], no. 8, 3 April 1963.

56 The amount represented 15 percent of total costs. It would “cover the unforeseen” “expenses of Nuclear Insurance” and the transfer of knowledge to other companies. Project of the Unión Eléctrica Madrileña, 1962, Secretaría files, box. 139, ABE-IEME.

57 Export-Import Bank of the U.S., “Authorizations for Nuclear Power Plants and Training Center from Inception thru March 31, 1983,” exhibit B. (1959–1983), box H128, folder 705, EXIM Archives.

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60 The contract stated, among other things, that “transportation costs could only opt for financing . . . for shipments made in ships or aircrafts registered in the US.” Financial Activities, Zorita NP contracts, box 1885, ABE-IEME.

61 De la Torre and Rubio-Varas, Financiación exterior, chap. 5.

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66 The letter-contract written by the bank (Dec. 1964) indicated that taxes or obligations would be assumed by the Spanish company. In addition, the UEM should provide Chase with all relevant information on its financial status and register for insurance against nuclear accidents. Letter-contract by the bank, Dec. 1964, Secretaría files, box 133, ABE-IEME.

67 Ibid.

68 A credit “directly approved” by WH. An American pension fund was used as escrow.

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72 Ibid.

73 “La Central Nuclear de Zorita producirá más de mil millones de KW-hora al año,” ABC, 6 July 1965, 50.

74 Project of Unión Eléctrica Madrileña, Secretaría files, box 139, ABE-IEME.

75 López Rodríguez, “La situación española,” 334

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80 Nuclear fuel had to be acquired “in the most economic conditions possible” (including credit for produced plutonium) and to be “of the most advanced technical quality in the international market” without paying taxes. Project of Unión Eléctrica Madrileña, Secretaría files, box 139, ABE-IEME. The United States maintained the free-world (i.e., noncommunist) monopoly on uranium enrichment until 1974; Spain turned to the USSR for enriched uranium by that date, telegram from the U.S. Embassy in Madrid to the Secretary of State, 23 Apr. 1974, NARA Document Number 1974MADRID02523, National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Md.

81 Project of Unión Eléctrica Madrileña, Secretaría files, box 139, ABE-IEME.

82 Ibid.

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85 “El ministro de Industria inaugura las obras de la central nuclear de Zorita (Guadalajara),” ABC, 7 July 1965, 60; “Franco ha inaugurado ayer la primera central nuclear española,” ABC, 13 Dec. 1968, 55

86 “Future of Nuclear Plants in Spain,” ABC, 20 July 1969.

87 “La Central Nuclear de Zorita va a ser ampliada,” ABC, 14 May 1972, 68. The plans never proceeded.

88 Álvaro-Moya, “Globalization of Knowledge-Based Services,” 702–4.

89 Joskow and Rozanski, “Effects of Learning by Doing,” 168; Cowan, “Nuclear Power Reactors,” 550.

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