MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Rosatom resumes construction of nuclear reactor in Bolivia

It is “unparalleled in the world”, said Komarov

Russia's atomic agency Rosatom Monday resumed construction of a nuclear reactor for the Center for Research and Development of Nuclear Technology (CIDTN) of Bolivia, a project which had been paralyzed in 2019, it was reported.

 According to the RIA Novosti agency, the undertaking is “unparalleled in the world“ and will be built in the city of El Alto, 4,000 meters above sea level, the highest in the world to host nuclear facilities.

”That reactor, which will start operating in 2024, is a technological miracle, which will include Bolivia in the list of innovative countries, which are not many,” said Rosatom First Deputy Director General for Corporate Development and International Business Kiril Komarov

On March 6, 2016, the Government of Bolivia and Russia signed an agreement on the construction of a nuclear research center. The project, valued at US $ 300 million consists of a low-power nuclear research reactor, a cyclotron-radiopharmacy center, a multipurpose irradiation plant and a nuclear research laboratory and training.

The purposes of the facilities, which will occupy 15 hectares, include energy, medical and agri-food research.

The construction of the center is part of the civil atomic energy plan for peaceful purposes announced by the Bolivian government in 2014 and which has the backing of the International Atomic Energy Agency.

The project, which initially planned the launching of the reactor for 2022, was paralyzed in 2019 and has been reactivated this year.