Open Access
Nuclear engineering and technology transfer: the Spanish strategies to deal with US, French and German nuclear manufacturers, 1955–1985
(Routledge, 2020) Torre Campo, Joseba de la; Rubio Varas, María del Mar; Sánchez Sánchez, Esther M.; Sanz Lafuente, María Gloria; Ekonomia; Institute for Advanced Research in Business and Economics - INARBE; Economía
We analysed the process of construction and connection to the electrical grid of four Spanish nuclear power plants with different financial and technological foreign partners: those of Zorita (PWR by Westinghouse), Garoña (BWR by General Electric) and Vandellós I (GCR by EDF) (belonging to the first generation of atomic plants and producing electricity from 1969–72) and that of Trillo I (PWR by KWU, connected in 1988). These four examples allow us to observe how the learning curve of nuclear engineering and the acquisition of skills by Spanish companies evolved. Progressively the domestic industry achieved higher levels of participation, fostered by the Ministry of Industry and Energy. When the atomic plants under construction were paralysed by the nuclear moratorium of 1984, and several other projects were abandoned by the utilities along the way, Spain had developed an industrial sector around the fabrication of service components and engineering for nuclear power plants to compete internationally.
Open Access
España y Euratom
(Sociedad Nuclear Española (SNE), 2024) Rubio Varas, María del Mar; Torre Campo, Joseba de la; Economía; Ekonomia
Mientras que las Agencias nucleares de la ONU y la OECE/OCDE nacieron a posteriori de la organización matriz, la Comunidad Europea de la Energía Atómica (Euratom) nació ya como parte de los Tratados de Roma en 1957 que dieron luz a las Comunidades Europeas, y con sus mismos miembros originales (Bélgica, Francia, Alemania Occidental, Italia, Luxemburgo y los Países Bajos). A diferencia del Organismo Internacional de la Energía Atómica (OIEA) y de la Agencia Europea de la Energía Nuclear (AEN), en cuyas discusiones nucleares intervendría España como uno más antes de 1959, la participación formal en Euratom hubo de esperar hasta la integración en la Comunidad Económica Europea en 1986. Ello no quiere decir que no existieran otro tipo de vínculos y de acceso desde Madrid a lo que ocurría en Euratom antes de esa fecha. En su devenir histórico, Euratom se verá afectada por las crisis y ampliaciones de su organización matriz con mucha más virulencia que los otros organismos internacionales dedicados a la energía atómica. En este capítulo presentamos primero la constitución de Euratom y sus dificultades internas anteriores a la adhesión española, para después adentrarnos en las relaciones de Euratom con España.
Open Access
Economía en transición: del tardofranquismo a la democracia
(Marcial Pons Historia, 2022) Torre Campo, Joseba de la; Rubio Varas, María del Mar; Economía; Ekonomia
Este volumen acomete por primera vez un análisis sistemático de la economía española durante la Transición democrática con los métodos y exigencias de la investigación de los historiadores económicos. Se ofrece un balance de largo plazo sobre el cambio económico y social y sus fortalezas y debilidades; la naturaleza del proceso de desmantelamiento del marco institucional de la dictadura y las reformas estructurales sobre el mercado de trabajo, la fiscalidad y el sistema financiero, el impacto global de la crisis emergética y las respuestas de los empresarios y los retos de la integración europea.
Open Access
The power of persuasion: exploring the relationship between advertising and nuclear energy in Spain
(Emerald, 2024-12-09) Aramendia Muneta, María Elena; Rubio Varas, María del Mar; Torre Campo, Joseba de la; Economía; Ekonomia; Gestión de Empresas; Enpresen Kudeaketa; Universidad Pública de Navarra / Nafarroako Unibertsitate Publikoa, PJUPNA2023–11931
Purpose: this study aims to examine how the nuclear energy issue was used for advertising purposes at the dawn of the atomic era in Spain. Design/methodology/approach: newspapers and magazines from the atomic era were reviewed to assess the impact of nuclear energy on advertising campaigns for all kinds of unrelated products. This study interprets the message and information contained in several marketing campaigns from the detonation of the first nuclear bomb in 1945 until the inauguration of the first nuclear facility in Spain in 1968. Findings: private companies leapt at the chance to use the new technology, with its promises of a brighter future, to promote their products, including watches, Venetian blinds, anisette, chocolates, pencils and fountain pens, spa resorts, books and encyclopaedias, laundry detergents, pressure cookers, concentrate feeds and hair restorers. This study makes a major contribution to the history of marketing literature, focusing on nuclear energy as an influential agent in industry, advertising agencies and popular culture. It shows how advertising campaigns used terms such as 'nuclear', 'atomic' and 'atomic bomb' and images of mushroom clouds or atom symbols to denote modernity and allure and explores how government policies - in this case, concerning nuclear energy - can influence marketers and advertisers. Originality/value: the paper's originality stems from its analysis of Spanish advertisements to explore marketing history through the terms and imagery associated with nuclear energy and its industry. It further contributes to the understanding of how nuclear energy is represented and conceptualised for various purposes in popular culture.
Open Access
Estados Unidos y el despliegue nuclear español
(Sociedad Nuclear Española (SNE), 2024) Torre Campo, Joseba de la; Rubio Varas, María del Mar; Economía; Ekonomia
En este capítulo pretendemos, básicamente, ofrecer una síntesis del papel fundamental que desempeñó Estados Unidos en el despliegue de la energía nuclear en España en cada una de sus vertientes, y especialmente en el ámbito del capital humano, la transferencia de tecnología y la transformación del ecosistema industrial.
Open Access
The atomic business: structures and strategies
(Routledge, 2020) Rubio Varas, María del Mar; Torre Campo, Joseba de la; Connors, D.P.; Institute for Advanced Research in Business and Economics - INARBE
Nuclear energy was one among business opportunities brought by the take off in science and technology after the Second World War. The narratives of the milestones of atomic history neglect the commercial, industrial and organizational aspects that made it possible. This paper concentrates on what makes the nuclear business exceptional (or not). We undertake an analysis of the nuclear supply business (designing, manufacturing and installing nuclear facilities) distinct from the analysis of the demand side (business operating nuclear power plants). We identify a continuing role of the state in civil nuclear businesses and a symbiotic relationship with private atomic business. And yet, for the most part the nuclear business applies the usual criteria of cost minimization and profit maximization within the boundaries of a non-perfectly competitive market. We argue that the development of civil nuclear projects is core not just to business history as a discipline but to post-war history. © 2021 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.