The institute admits students who have completed two years of university studies (either in Physics or Engineering) and undergoes a rigorous admission procedure.

[1] Nuclear research in the province of Rio Negro began as the Huemul Project in the Perón era.

Nuclear facilities were organized as the Bariloche Atomic Centre, under the direction of José Antonio Balseiro.

An educational institution was established as the Instituto de Física de Bariloche on April 22, 1955, as a joint project of the National Atomic Energy Commission and the National University of Cuyo; the former administers the Bariloche Atomic Centre, whose work led to the first research reactor in Latin America (1957), as well as the region's first commercial reactor, Atucha I, in 1974.

In the 1970s, Balseiro became the only institute in Argentina to grant degrees in nuclear engineering, as the country was stepping up its nuclear program with the incorporation of the Embalse and Atucha II, as well as continued research activity in the Constituyentes and Bariloche reactors.