Argentina won the two-million-dollar tender to provide fuel to the Peruvian research reactor RP-10, which will be manufactured by the Argentine National Commission of Atomic Energy (CNEA, in Spanish) —dependent on the National Ministry of Federal Planning, Public Investment and Services— in accordance with a joint proposal presented by INVAP S.E. (Argentine state-owned Applied Research Company) and CNEA.
The tender was granted to our country by the International Atomic Energy Agency (OIEA, in Spanish). It covers 22 fuel elements and 7 control elements that will be developed and produced by CNEA at its Research Reactors Fuel Elements Plant (ECRI, in Spanish), and controlled at its characterization laboratories.
The Power Reactor RP-10 (10 megawatts), which is used for radioisotope production, is located at Oscar Miroquesada de la Guerra Nuclear Center, in Huarangal, Lima. It was designed and built by CNEA for the Peruvian Institute of Nuclear Energy (IPEN, in Spanish), and has been in operation since 1988. Furthermore, it works as a “school unit” to train staff in materials irradiation and applied research.
The fact of having won this tender means the possibility of exporting a hundred percent Argentine know-how and technology, thus earning foreign exchange. It also highlights the regional and international recognition of Argentina’s nuclear development.
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National Ministry of Federal Planning, Public Investment and Services
