this issue were held in the city of Rivera and the city of Tacuarembó, this latter attended by more than 400 people. Also, the Departmental Board of Artigas made a statement on the matter, and the Local Board of Paso de los Toros declared itself to be against the project. Even children of Paso de los Toros sent letters to senators and representatives of the Uruguayan parliament to vote against the installation of a nuclear power facility. About 6,000 people marched in protest occupying the entire road bridge over the Negro River, joined by people from Montevideo and from other places of the country. These social manifestations were held by the citizens themselves without the participation of political parties. These movements ended with the adoption in 1997 of Law 16.832, containing article 27, which bans the use of nuclear energy in the country. Law 16.832 and dismantling of the reactor Starting from entry into force of the law, the CIN reactor was deactivated, dismantled and returned to United States. After that, 1.2 million Uruguayan pesos from national budget of 2001 were assigned for the disassembly of the facilities which housed the reactor and for the management and disposal of radioactive waste generated by past use of the device. Since then, the CIN facilities designed to host it remain empty. In 2004, Senator Sergio Abreu Bonilla submitted a bill to repeal this law in order to allow an investigation into the feasibility of using nuclear power, but this was unsuccessful. There was no further mention of the nuclear issue at a national level until 2007, when the Executive branch under presidency of Tabaré Vázquez created a multiparty commission (called the Tribunal Ciudadano) devoted to the study of the use of nuclear energy to generate electricity, following standards recommended by the International Atomic Energy Agency. This reopened the national debate on nuclear power and convenience of installing a nuclear plant due to the country's energy crisis. New debates When the issue was reopened, opinions were heard from experts, politicians, media and the military. According to Diva Puig, a consultant in nuclear energy for Latin America of the IAEA, “the discussion about nuclear energy (...) must not exclude any sectors of society”. Justo Laiz, director of CIN, agreed with her, opining that “I do not agree that this issue be discussed only on a political point of view” because “energy issues should be