Zambia is set to build its first nuclear education centre with the aid of Russia’s state-owned nuclear corporation Rosatom.

The country plans to build the Nuclear Centre for Science and Technology near the Lusaka International Airport. According to a Rosatom media statement, it will comprise a 10 MW water-cooled research reactor equipped with laboratories, functional facilities and complexes offering a range of scientific research, training and commercial applications. A multifunctional irradiation centre and nuclear medicine centre will also be available.

The centre will enable the use of nuclear technologies in science, healthcare, geology, agriculture and other human activity areas, as well as stimulate social and economic development. Additionally, it will create new opportunities for Zambia in terms of academic work and medicine.

‘In general, such research centres are open for students from the relevant university faculties specialising in medicine, engineering, physics, geology and other adjacent areas of nuclear technology applications,’ says Dmitry Vysotsky, Rosatom’s director of nuclear research reactors.

The research will promote the emergence of high-tech clusters in Zambia, making it possible for the country to become a technological leader in the region.

27 February 2018
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