What is the plan of Evo Morales and Vladimir Putin for the construction of the highest nuclear power plant in the world in Bolivia

Evo Morales

pbaded by Moscow yesterday and there were many agreements that he sealed with

Vladimir Poutine.

The Bolivian and Russian leaders have entered into partnerships for lithium mining, agricultural development, security and even cooperation between diplomatic academies.

But the most striking documents in the series of documents signed by the two leaders are those related to the Russian-led nuclear project in Bolivia.

It is a complex to develop a technology based on atomic energy for medicinal, agroindustrial and research purposes in the Bolivian city of El Alto, near La Paz and over 4000 above sea ​​level.

The project has sparked criticism from the opposition to Morales, but the Bolivian government has insisted on its safety and on the benefits that the facility will bring.

A nuclear reactor in Bolivia

To take its first steps in the use of atomic energy, the Bolivian government created in April 2016 the Bolivian Nuclear Energy Agency (ABEN) and signed its first agreements providing for a cooperation with Russia.

This entity will be responsible for the management of what is called the Nuclear Technology Research and Development Center, which is currently under construction.

As expected, this resort will be the highest in Latin America.

"This center will feature in the Guinness Book of Records as it is the only project so high in the world," said Rosatom's Russian director, Yevgeny Paquermanov, during a recent visit to the Guinness Book of World Records. ;establishment.

"I salute and thank this installation of the nuclear power center in Bolivia," Morales told Putin in Moscow on Thursday.

ABEN stresses that the Bolivian atomic complex will have three components that will serve the country in the development of nuclear medicine, the irradiation of agricultural products and scientific research.

"The goal is to develop nuclear applications for peaceful purposes, with social and environmental responsibility," said the government entity.

The entity stresses that Bolivia will no longer be the only country in South America not to take advantage of atomic energy.

The functions

At the end of June, Evo Morales welcomed ten Bolivians who had gone to train in Russian facilities. In 2018, another group was also sent.

"We bid farewell to the specialists who are going to Russia to specialize in the high-tech fields of gamma irradiation and product control in the laboratory." Bolivians are moving together towards liberation and technological sovereignty, "said the president.

In addition, the government has authorized 260 scholarships in the country for future plant operators.

Thanks to its gamma irradiation plant, Bolivia intends to "make a technological and scientific leap in the agro-industrial field".

The government has announced that it will increase exports and improve the quality of agricultural products in the country.

The second component of the Atomic Complex will be a radiopharmacy cyclotron center to produce radiopharmaceuticals and radioisotopes for the early detection and treatment of cancer.

This has been declared a priority by Evo Morales and it has been announced that these cancer treatment centers should start operating next year.

Finally, the third component of the nuclear center will be a reactor and a scientific research laboratory.

Questions

The Bolivian opposition has questioned from the start the implementation of a nuclear program in the country.

They say the Morales government has allowed countries like Russia or China to over-ingest Bolivia and the high debt they have contracted.

They also point out that other energy projects promised by the Evo administration, such as the production of lithium batteries, do not end up taking off.

Bolivia is one of the countries with the largest reserves of so-called "white gold" in the world, and it is considered that its exploitation may be the country's new economic engine.

By Boris Miranda (
@ivanbor
)

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