Bolivia's Vice President Visits Center for Nuclear Technology Research and Development Site in El Alto

On 13 July 2019, Mr. García Linera, Vice President of the Plurinational State of Bolivia, visited the construction site of the Center for Nuclear Technology Research and Development (CNTRD) in the city of El Alto. During his visit, the Vice President inspected the ongoing construction at the Cyclotron Radiopharmacy Preclinical Complex and the Multipurpose Irradiation Center.

According to Mr. Linera, the Center will improve the well-being of Bolivian people and open up new opportunities to export agricultural products to other countries. ‘We have decided to build our research center in the city of El Alto, thus setting the scene for Bolivia to develop in the 21st, 22nd, and 23rd centuries. The center will benefit our healthcare, industry, science, and technology, at the same time contributing to nuclear specialist education and training,’ Mr. Linera said.

On the Russian side, GSPI, a Rusatom Overseas subsidiary, is in charge of CNTRD construction. Rusatom Overseas is the Rosatom State Corporation affiliate that promotes Rosatom’s integrated offer for the construction of small and large nuclear power plants and centers for nuclear science and technology on the international market.

Mr. Evgeny Pakermanov, President of Rusatom Overseas, is quoted as saying that ‘Rosatom and its Bolivian partners are cooperating closely to ensure a timely construction of the Center for Nuclear Technology Research and Development. Its first facility, the Cyclotron Radiopharmacy Preclinical Complex, will have been launched by the end of the year. As a whole, the center construction is scheduled to be over by 2022.’

The Center will house a Nuclear Research Facility featuring a pressurized water reactor with a nameplate capacity of 200 kW, a Multipurpose Irradiation Center featuring an industrial gamma-ray plant, a Cyclotron Radiopharmacy Complex, auxiliary facilities, and several research laboratories. Within the global atomic industry, the Center is a one-of-a-kind project. The site Bolivia has chosen to deploy the Center is the highest in the world where a nuclear facility has ever been built (4,000 meters above sea level).