According to Rosatom, radiopharmaceuticals produced at the site will be used in more than 5,000 medical procedures a year in Bolivia. Radiopharmaceuticals, or medicinal radiocompounds, are a group of pharmaceutical drugs containing radioactive isotopes. They can be used as diagnostic and therapeutic agents.
Rosatom said commissioning work is continuing at the facility, which will include a water-cooled research reactor with nominal power of up to 200 kW, an experimental gamma-installation, a cyclotron and radiopharmacology complex, engineering facilities and various laboratories.
In March 2016, Russia and Bolivia signed an agreement to cooperate on the construction of the centre at a site in the city of El Alto, western Bolivia.
In September 2017, the Bolivian Nuclear Energy Agency and JSC State Specialised Design Institute, a subsidiary of Russia’s state nuclear corporation Rosatom, signed a contract for construction.