Bolivia is reviving projects that were put on pause after the November 2019 coup d’etat. Together with restarting its ambitious lithium programme, the country is continuing the construction of the Centre for Nuclear Technology Research and Development (CNTRD) in El Alto.
On 4 June, Bolivian Minister of Hydrocarbons and Energies Franklin Molina Ortiz met with senior managers of state atomic energy corporation Rosatom during his official visit to Russia. They discussed what progress had been made to date in the implementation of the joint CNTRD endeavour and projected that the operations of its first component – the Multipurpose Irradiation Centre (MIC) – would begin before the end of 2021.
Peaceful Nuclear Energy & Economic Development
On 19 September 2017, the engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) contract for the CNTRD construction in El Alto was signed by the Bolivian Nuclear Energy Agency (ABEN) and JSC GSPI, operating under the auspices of Rusatom Overseas – Rosatom’s company responsible for the international marketing and promotion of centres for nuclear science and technology.
In accordance with the project, the innovative centre will be equipped with “a 200kW VVER research reactor, a multipurpose irradiation centre based on a gamma installation, a cyclotron radiopharmacy complex, engineering facilities, and various research laboratories” for the needs of healthcare, agriculture, industry, and many other sectors of Bolivia’s economy. The centre is therefore expected to be instrumental in combating oncological diseases as well as increasing the shelf life of the country’s food products and ensuring their safety and quality.
Furthermore, the joint endeavour provides new jobs for the country’s population: “100 percent of the personnel in charge of construction are Bolivian,” Russian consul in Bolivia Iakov Fedorov pointed out in late January 2021 as quoted by EA Bolivia, a radio station from El Alto. “The technology is Russian, but the workforce is from this country.”
The Phase 1 and 2 facilities are due to be handed over to the customer in autumn 2021, according to Altynov, while Phase 3 and 4 of the project – i.e. construction and equipment of R&D laboratories, as well as construction of a research reactor – are expected to be completed in 2024.
View of the entrance to the Insitute of Nuclear Medicine and Cancer Treatment -part of the Investigation Centre of Nuclear Medicine complex, still under construction- in El Alto, Bolivia, on March 10, 2020. – Russian company Rosatom is building the first nuclear research center for medical and agricultural purposes in the Bolivian city of El Alto, which costs 351 million dollars
Bolivian Nuclear Programme
Bolivian President Evo Morales had long considered launching the country’s sovereign nuclear programme. In October 2010, he announced an agreement with Tehran to use Iran’s technology to build a nuclear power plant in Bolivia. La Paz also signed nuclear agreements with France and Argentina and rallied support from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
The Bolivian government was very serious about its new responsibilities related to the atomic programme. In September 2019, Bolivia joined two nuclear safety treaties, namely, the Convention on Nuclear Safety and the Joint Convention on the Safety of Spent Fuel Management and on the Safety of Radioactive Waste Management. It was initially planned that the first Bolivian nuclear centre would become operational in 2022.
Meanwhile, Bolivia and Russia’s Rosatom continued to broaden cooperation. On 11 July 2019, the Bolivian Ministry of Energies and the Russian state-run organisation signed a Memorandum of cooperation in the field of developing industrial projects and research in the lithium industry. Being located in Latin America’s Lithium Triangle, Bolivia is sitting on one of the largest deposits of the alkali metal in the continent.
A supporter of Bolivia’s former President Evo Morales yells at a police officer, telling him to respect the nation’s indigenous people in La Paz, Bolivia, Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2019. Former President Evo Morales, who transformed Bolivia as its first indigenous president, flew to exile in Mexico on Tuesday after weeks of violent protests, leaving behind a confused power vacuum in the Andean nation. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)
2019 Ouster of Morales Paralysed Bold Nuclear Project
In a sudden twist of fate, the Russo-Bolivian projects were put on pause after the 2019 October general elections in the Andean country. Following the protests and ungrounded accusations of voter fraud, the Morales government was ousted in November 2019. The de facto government of Jeanine Anez started overhauling the country’s economic programmes and foreign alliances.
On 12 February 2020, the Bolivian nuclear agency, ABEN, stated that the country was suspending a joint project with Russia’s Rosatom on the construction of a nuclear research facility in El Alto.
The news came out of the blue, as Rosatom did not receive any official notification from the Bolivian nuclear agency that the project had been suspended, according to the company’s representatives.
Luis Arce is sworn as president of the Plurinational State of Bolivia on 8 November 2020
However, the Anez government ruled for slightly less than a year being mired in political controversy and subjected to heavy criticism by Bolivian socialists for political persecution and mishandling of the COVID pandemic.
Sourse: sputniknews.com
