IAEA mission assessing safety of Bolivia’s first nuclear research reactor

An International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) team of experts visited Bolivia to assess the safety of the country’s first nuclear research reactor. The reactor is being built by Rosatom specialists in El Alto, at an altitude of over 4000 metres. The RB-1 will produce radioisotopes for medical, industrial, and scientific purposes. It will also be used to train students in nuclear specialties. Several parts of the plant, including the pool-type 200 kWt SM-3 high-precision research reactor, have been developed by Russia’s Research Institute for Atomic Reactors (NIIAR), part of Rosatom, and the reactor vessel was delivered and installed by Russian technicians in 2023. The facility has also been designed to continue to operate during an earthquake of 8.7 points on the MSK-64 scale. The contract for the construction of the reactor was signed between JSC GSPI (State Specialised Design Institute), part of Rosatom, and the Agency for Nuclear Energy of Bolivia (ABEN) in 2017, and construction works started in 2021. The reactor should begin to operate in July of this year. It has already received site evaluation, construction, and commissioning licences from the Bolivian regulator.
ABEN requested the IAEA mission to verify the safety of the nearly completed research reactor. The seven-day mission, consisting of four experts from different European countries and an IAEA official, covered all organisational and technical aspects of the project, including safety analysis and the commissioning programme. It also visited the facility and met with the research reactor staff. In his conclusive remarks, team leader Joseph Christensen, Senior Nuclear Safety Officer at the IAEA, said ABEN has made “significant progress” in building the reactor and implementing proper safety arrangements. However, he still advised his Bolivian hosts to keep safety as their top priority in the final steps toward commissioning. The IAEA team also recommended strengthening the on-the-job training of future reactor operating staff, formalising the safety committee tasked with providing independent reviews of the plant’s activities, updating the radiation protection programme, and establishing operational limits and specific conditions for commissioning.