Survey of radioisotope applications in Latin America

Abstract

Radioisotope applications in Latin America are summarized here, with special emphasis on Argentina because the authors are naturally most familiar with that country. Perhaps the chief reason for building the first reactor in Argentina was to train reactor physicists. However, the radiochemistry group was already a strong one, having had the advantage of several years of training with radioisotopes produced by the Buenos Aires synchrocyclotron and by a Cockcroft - Walton accelerator. Therefore, as soon as the fun was over for the reactor physicists and the reactor had been tested, it was put on a routine operating basis for producing isotopes. It is still doing this, after several redesigns.