4 Oct 2019 13:47

Rosatom planning to build irradiation center in Cuba

HAVANA. Oct 4 (Interfax) - Rosatom is planning to build an irradiation center in Cuba under an agreement signed during Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev's visit to Cuba by the state corporation's subsidiary Rusatom Healthcare and the Cuban corporation Inversiones Gamma S.A.

The multipurpose irradiation center will be built in the Mariel Special Development Zone. It will be used to irradiate agricultural products to lengthen their shelf lives and decrease expenses on electricity currently used to power refrigerating systems. It will also make chemical treatment of fruits and vegetables unnecessary.

The center will also sterilize medical products.

In 2016, Russia and Cuba signed an intergovernmental agreement on the peaceful uses of atomic energy.

Intergovernmental agreements on research and innovation cooperation, a protocol on cooperation between the countries' customs agencies, and a number of other documents were also signed in the presence of Medvedev and Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel.