ROSATOM Signs Agreement to Build Nuclear Science and Technology Centre in Bolivia

On 8 July 2016, a project development agreement for the Nuclear Science and Technology Centre was signed in the El Alto State University (Bolivia).

The Agreement was witnessed by the signatures of Mr. Evgeny Pakermanov, President of JSC Rusatom Overseas, and Mr. Silverio Chavez Rios, Director General of the Bolivian Atomic Energy Agency (ABEN).

This Project Development Agreement (PDA) sets up a programme of further actions aimed at developing and implementing the Nuclear Science and Technology Centre project to be constructed in the Plurinational State of Bolivia. Moreover, it covers essential terms and conditions of some commercial contracts that both parties are planning to sign this year.

The Project Development Agreement was concluded pursuant to the Intergovernmental Agreement on the facilitation of construction of the Nuclear Science and Technology Centre signed by and between the Russian Federation and the Plurinational State of Bolivia on 6 March 2016.

The Centre would enable Bolivia to commence using nuclear technologies in science, medicine, geology, agriculture, and other fields of human activity. It would also facilitate the local production of isotopes that could be widely used in diagnostics and treatment of cancer while making nuclear medicine more accessible to the Bolivian people. The radiation technology developed to process food and agricultural products protecting them fr om pests and harmful bacteria would both extend the shelf life of locally produced food products and boost the agricultural exports of Bolivia across the globe.

The Centre will also include skill development facilities providing necessary training for future highly qualified professionals in the field of both the Bolivian and South American nuclear energy. Moreover, the Centre will be equipped with state-of-the-art equipment for research and development activities as part of the national nuclear and research programmes, which would definitely contribute to education and science in Bolivia.

The Bolivian Nuclear Science and Technology Centre is quite a unique project in the world’s nuclear industry. Selected by the Bolivian party, the El Alto construction site is located 4,100 m above the sea level, which makes it the highest construction site wh ere a nuclear facility has ever been built.

JSC Rusatom Overseas is a company of the Rosatom Group. The company is responsible for the global promotion of Rosatom's integrated offer for nuclear power plant as well as nuclear science and technology centre construction projects.

For reference:

In line with the agreements, the Nuclear Science and Technology Centre includes multifunctional and irradiation gamma facilities, a research water-moderated pool-type reactor of 200 kW rated power, a cyclotron, an engineering complex, as well as a range of research and other laboratories.

Russia currently operates over 20% of the world’s research reactors. All in all, Rosatom has built more than 120 research reactors, with over 20 of them located abroad, including China, Vietnam, Egypt, Hungary, Germany, the Czech Republic and other countries.