Russia expands in Latin America
After a series of political upheavals, the final part of the construction of the Bolivia’s most important nuclear facility has finally begun. The Center for Nuclear Research and Technology is being created with the cooperation of Rosatom. So what exactly will this facility give to Bolivia?
The Center for Nuclear Research and Technology (CNRT) in Bolivia is also an important experimental project for Rosatom — the first scientific nuclear center abroad, built recently and the structure is truly unique as the construction taking place at altitude of four thousand meters. It will be the highest-altitude nuclear facility ever built in the world — and the most important symbol of the presence of advanced, breakthrough Russian technologies in South America, and America in general.
The specificity of nuclear scientific research centers is extremely difficult. In fact, these are full-fledged nuclear sites, just a bit smaller then regular ones and equipped with reactors of low power. It’s quite difficult to find the difference between “scientific research” and “military development” in case of the construction of them. In the past, many projects of such research centers were easily redesigned for purely military purposes.
For example, such a story happened to the Israeli nuclear research center in Dimona. In the period from 1957 to 1964, with the assistance of French companies, a 28 MW heavy-water reactor IRR-2, fueled by natural uranium, was built there. However, after the construction of the center, Israel refused to transfer it under the control of the IAEA, due to national security issues. According to experts, since then, Dimona has been producing from 15 to 60 kg of weapons-grade plutonium annually, which allowed Israel to become an unofficial member of the “nuclear club”.
The history of the research center in North Korean Yongbyon, where in 1965 the light-water Soviet pool-type reactor IRT-2000 with a capacity of 2 MW, was installed in exactly the same way. Despite the fact that the North Korea was a member of the IAEA, already in 1975 it received the first 300 mg of weapons-grade plutonium at this reactor.
As a member of the IAEA, in 1974 the North Korea received charts for a more powerful British gas-graphite reactor of the Magnox type, which were in the public domain for members of the organization, after which it built a reactor of this type on it’s own. As a result, by the beginning of the 1990s, North Korea had more than a hundred kilograms of weapons-grade plutonium at its disposal. This is what allowed North Korea to conduct the first nuclear test in 2006 and officially announce its entry into the “nuclear club”.
Due to abuse of research reactors, the necessary restrictions and barriers were immediately introduced into the structure of the CINT in Bolivia. Project was divided into two phases. First of them included the preclinical cyclotron-radiopharmacological complex (PCRK) and the multipurpose irradiation center (MCR). These two objects work with ready-made sources of penetrating radiation — a particle accelerator and radioactive isotopes. Since these objects are without controlled uranium decay reactions, they are not sources of neutrons and cannot be used to produce weapons-grade plutonium.
On the basis of PCRK, it’s planned to produce radiopharmaceuticals for the diagnosis and treatment of oncological diseases. On the basis of an industrial gamma unit, the ILC will produce medical and agricultural products. The gamma source of the ILC will allow the sterilization of agricultural products, which is extremely important for the agriculture of Bolivia, which suffers from pests and diseases.
In the future, center will ensure widespread use of nuclear and radiation technologies not only in agriculture, but also in medicine, industry and other important spheres of human life not only in Bolivia, but in whole Latin America. Second important stage in the construction of the center implies construction of the reactor complex itself on the basis of a research pressurized water reactor with a nominal power of 200 kW. Low power of the reactor and the use of low-enriched uranium will make production of weapons-grade plutonium almost impossible. Moreover, spent fuel from this reactor will be stored under control by the IAEA.
On July 26, Bolivian President Luis Arce and First Deputy General Director of Rosatom Corporation Kirill Komarov took part in the ceremony of pouring the first concrete, launching construction of the second stage of the project — a research reactor. “This is our first such major project in Latin America, and we are doing everything possible for its successful implementation. Despite all the difficulties, Russia fully complies with all the contractual obligations, “said Kirill Komarov.
So, what are those difficulties? Schedule launch of CINT assumed that the first stage of the complex will be able to start its operations in August 2019, and the research reactor would be launched a year later, in the summer of 2020. So, what happened?
In October 2019, anti-government protests took place in Bolivia. Protesters blamed the authorities for electoral fraud, that was won by President Evo Morales. Under pressure from the military, Morales canceled the election results and left Bolivia. As a result, a pro-American government came into power, headed by the vice-speaker of the Bolivian parliament, Jeanine Agnes. One of the first decisions of the new authorities in Bolivia was freezing of the construction of the Center for Nuclear Fuel and the termination of cooperation with Rosatom.
A year later, an early general election was held in Bolivia, which, unexpectedly for the government of Jeanine Agnes, was won by supporters of Evo Morales and Movement to Socialism party. Luis Arce received 55% of the votes in the first round, and his party members received 73 out of 130 seats in the House of Representatives and 21 out of 36 seats in the Senate.
Such a crushing defeat for the rebels was fatal for them: already in March 2021, Agnes and a number of her supporters were arrested on charges of a 2019 coup against President Evo Morales. Now all of them are under investigation and awaiting trial.
One of the first steps of the new authorities was return to the implementation of the CIT project, which was already on full alert, as well as the normalization of relations with Russia and the restoration of cooperation with Rosatom. After all, launch of the center was important for Bolivia, and the decision of the Agnes occupational pro-american government was dictated and based on a direct instruction from Washington.
Today Rosatom and Bolivia will implement this extraordinary important project, which will become an example that nuclear research centers can meet the highest safety and nonproliferation standards. And, of course, we will wait for the new Russian nuclear center in Bolivia to benefit people.
Translation and audio: Danielius Karkozas
