Orígenes y trayectoria de la industria de combustible nuclear en España: ENUSA, 1972-2022

This article aims to examine the deployment of the industrial fabrication of nuclear fuel in Spain, a highly specialized activity linked to the Empresa Nacional del Uranio SA (National Uranium Company, ENUSA) and the supply of foreign technology (Westinghouse and General Electric). ENUSA was founded, at the initiative of the government and with the support of the private sector, to cover the fuel needs of a tremendously ambitious nuclear program, which was later reduced to a quarter of what had been foreseen. After some years of uncertainty, the state-owned company managed to successfully overcome the difficulties arising from the industrial reconversion and the change in the government’s energy policy, reaching the 21st century as a company which is not merely a survivor but a leader in its sector of activity: its plant at Juzbado (Salamanca) has become a technological and industrial reference, with wide geographical and sectorial spillovers. In short, we will try to reconstruct the origins of ENUSA and to search in the past for the reasons for its current position, based on a wide range of mostly archival sources.