Huemul Island is an island located in the Nahuel Huapi Lake

Nahuel Huapi Lake

Nahuel Huapi Lake is a lake in the lake region of northern Patagonia between the provinces of Río Negro and Neuquén, in Argentina. The lake depression consists of several glacial valleys carved out along faults and Miocene valleys that were later dammed by moraines.Nahuel Huapi lake, located...

, off the shore of San Carlos de Bariloche

San Carlos de Bariloche

San Carlos de Bariloche, usually known as Bariloche, is a city in the , situated in the foothills of the Andes on the southern shores of Nahuel Huapi Lake and is located inside Nahuel Huapi National Park...

, a city in the province

Provinces of Argentina

Argentina is subdivided into twenty-three provinces and one autonomous city...

 of Río Negro

Río Negro Province

Río Negro is a province of Argentina, located at the northern edge of Patagonia. Neighboring provinces are from the south clockwise Chubut, Neuquén, Mendoza, La Pampa and Buenos Aires. To the east lies the Atlantic Ocean.Its capital is Viedma...

, Argentina

Argentina

Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...

, at 41°06′23"S 71°23′42"W. It derives its name from the Mapuche

Mapuche

The Mapuche are a group of indigenous inhabitants of south-central Chile and southwestern Argentina. They constitute a wide-ranging ethnicity composed of various groups who shared a common social, religious and economic structure, as well as a common linguistic heritage. Their influence extended...

 chief Güemul, whose tribe inhabited the area. Considered a historical and ecological touristic attraction, it has recently been conceded to the municipality of Bariloche after licitations with the government of Río Negro.

Huemul Project

In 1948, the German physicist Ronald Richter

Ronald Richter

Ronald Richter was an Austrian, later Argentine, scientist who became famous in connection with the Huemul Project and the National Atomic Energy Commission. This was intended to generate energy from nuclear fusion in the 1950s in Argentina, during the presidency of Juan Perón...

 presented a plan to develop a controllable form of nuclear fusion

Nuclear fusion

Nuclear fusion is the process by which two or more atomic nuclei join together, or "fuse", to form a single heavier nucleus. This is usually accompanied by the release or absorption of large quantities of energy...

 to President Juan Perón

Juan Perón

Juan Domingo Perón was an Argentine military officer, and politician. Perón was three times elected as President of Argentina though he only managed to serve one full term, after serving in several government positions, including the Secretary of Labor and the Vice Presidency...

. The Huemul Project

Huemul Project

The Huemul Project was a secret project proposed by the German scientist of Austrian origin Ronald Richter to the government of Argentina during the first presidency of Juan Domingo Perón....

 gained the support of the president, who decided to install an atomic energy plant in Huemul Island with Richter as project director. Perón's opposition, alongside a large part of the Argentine scientific community, suspected that Richter's claims were untrue and a commission was formed on September 1952 to investigate the matter. The commission was integrated by José Antonio Balseiro

José Antonio Balseiro

José Antonio Balseiro was an Argentine physicist.Balseiro studied at the Universidad Nacional de Córdoba in his home city, before moving to La Plata to study and research, obtaining a doctorate in physics at the Universidad Nacional de La Plata. His doctoral dissertation was directed by Dr...

, Mario Bancora, Manuel Beninson, Pedro Bussolini and Otto Gamba. After a detailed analysis of the facilities, it was concluded that Perón had indeed been deceived by Richter and the project was immediately terminated.