Belarus considering building a new research reactor with assistance from Russian state nuclear corporation, Belta news agency reported on 20 July.   

Svyatoslav Brinkevich, Head of the Cyclotron and Radiochemical Lab of the National Positron Emission Tomography (PET) Centre, said the new facility could be sited at the Sosny Joint Institute for Power and Nuclear Research (JIPNR) in Minsk, part of the Belarus National Academy of Sciences. The research reactor would be used partly to produce medical radioisotopes such as Iodine-131. If the project is authorised, the technological aspects will have to be studied, and a licence will be needed from the Nuclear and Radiation Safety Department of the Belarusian Emergencies Ministry (Gosatomnadzor), Brinkevich explained. Rosatom would design the facility, supply the equipment, share technologies for isotope production, and help train personnel. 

The National Positron Emission Tomography Centre at the NN Aleksandrov National Applied Research Centre for Oncology and Medical Radiology was established in 2015 and maintains close cooperation with Rosatom, which helps train its radiochemists. The centre makes its own radioactive solutions for PET diagnostics.

Belarus operated a pool-type research reactor (IRT-M)  at JIPNR from 1962 until 1988, which is now undergoing decommissioning. Currently, the institute conducts civilian nuclear experiments at the Yalina facility, which houses a thermal subcritical assembly (Yalina-T) and booster subcritical assembly (Yalina-Booster). In 2007, the Institute’s specialists created a multi-purpose critical facility, Hyacinth, intended for studying neutron multiplication systems and performing various works for the national economy of Belarus. Hyacinth achieved criticality in 2009 and provides an experimental base for solving a broad range of problems related to the development of nuclear power technologies.