El Salvador’s New Nuclear Energy Law

El Salvador’s decision to legalise and institutionalise nuclear energy marks one of the most consequential energy policy shifts in Central America’s modern history. El Salvador’s New Nuclear Energy Law is a Strategic Intelligence Report that analyses how President Nayib Bukele’s administration is positioning nuclear power as a long-term solution for energy security, decarbonisation, and technological autonomy.

The report examines the July 2024 legislation establishing the Organization for the Implementation of the Nuclear Energy Program (OIPEN), detailing its mandate across electricity generation, research reactors, industrial applications, and medical and agricultural by-products. It assesses El Salvador’s seven-year roadmap toward its first research reactor by 2030, including international cooperation with partners such as Argentina, the United States, Spain, and South Korea, and compliance with International Atomic Energy Agency safety frameworks.

Beyond opportunity, the report delivers a sober risk assessment—high upfront costs, public scepticism, environmental liability provisions, and the governance challenges of managing nuclear infrastructure in a small developing state. It also evaluates the strategic case for Small Modular Reactors (SMRs) as a scalable, lower-risk pathway.

Designed for policymakers, energy investors, climate strategists, and geopolitical risk analysts, this product transforms legislation into strategic foresight.

Nuclear decisions shape decades, not election cycles. Following Global Eye Intelligence ensures you track these inflection points early—before energy policy quietly becomes geopolitical leverage.