Bolivia plans to build a $300 million (£194m) nuclear research centre, according to reports.

Russia is said to provide the technology for the project which will include a research reactor.

President Evo Morales told reporters the centre will include a cyclotron for radiopharmaeuticals, a multi-purpose gamma irradiation plant.

Mr Morales reportedly said: “It poses no risk to humans or to mother Earth. It doesn’t contaminate the ground nor water nor air.”

The Bolivian Government plans to build the complex on a 50-acre site in El Alto, reports claim.

The country signed an accord earlier last month with Russian company Rosatom to support the project.

Last year Bolivia launched a 5MW energy project with 7,000 solar panels.