PRESS RELEASE
Bolivia’s El Alto ‘Will be the Great City of the Future,’ Based on Russian-Built Nuclear Medicine Center
Dec. 30, 2016 (EIRNS)—Bolivia’s Vice President Álvaro García Linera describes the city of El Alto, future site of the state-of-the-art Nuclear Technology Research and Development Center being built by Russia’s atomic energy agency, Rosatom, as "the great city of the future," that will provide tremendous opportunities for Bolivians to be trained in the peaceful uses of nuclear energy.
El Alto, he said, will bring together the best doctors and scientists who will know how to use nuclear medicine to detect cancer and other illnesses, making trips to Brazil or Argentina for treatment unnecessary, Prensa Latina reported Dec. 25.
In January, the El Alto Public University (UPEA), which signed an agreement with Rosatom last July for training of human resources, will begin to develop programs for a four-year training program for academics in this area, which will then be implemented by Rosatom personnel next year.
According to UPEA’s dean Reynaldo Cosme, Sputnik reports, the Nuclear Research Center’s location in El Alto will provide tremendous learning opportunities to both students and teachers. Rosatom’s involvement isn’t just technical either. During Christmas celebrations, personnel from Rosatom-Latin America and the Bolivian Nuclear Energy Agency (ABEN) distributed toys to 500 children in El Alto, and hosted a chocolate party for residents. The planned construction of the Nuclear Research Center has sparked great optimism in the city, built only thirty years ago and in great need of infrastructure, whose leaders see the project as one that will bring greater development and much-needed jobs.
