Scientific production of the Peruvian Institute of Nuclear Energy in 50 years of existence

• Autor: Montoya Zavaleta, Modesto Edilberto
• Formato: artículo
• Fecha de Publicación: 2025
• Institución: Universidad Nacional de Ingeniería
• Repositorio: Revistas - Universidad Nacional de Ingeniería
• Lenguaje: español; inglés
• OAI Identifier: oai:oai:revistas.uni.edu.pe:article/2489
• Enlace del recurso: https://revistas.uni.edu.pe/index.php/iecos/article/view/2489
• Nivel de acceso: acceso abierto
• Materia: Instituto Peruano de Energía Nuclear; Física Nuclear; Neutrografía; Peruvian Institute of Nuclear Energy; Nuclear Physics; Neutrography

Fifty years after its foundation, the scientific production of the Peruvian Institute of Nuclear Energy (IPEN), whose infrastructure includes as a centerpiece the RP-10 research reactor, a 10 MW reactor that acts as a neutron beam source, is analyzed. For this evaluation, the bibliographic database Scopus, recognized by CONCYTEC to measure scientific production in Peru, is used. Since its beginnings, IPEN has developed research in nuclear fission, uranium geology, neutronics and applications of chemical analysis by neutron activation and fission fingerprinting. However, at present, the only active line of research is related to applications of neutron activation analysis, with an average annual production of only two articles published in journals indexed in Scopus. A critical aspect is the inactivity in the RP-10 neutron tubes due to the lack of adequate instrumentation and research personnel trained to use them. In practice, the RP-10 reactor is mainly used for the production of radiopharmaceuticals, competing with importing companies, which contrasts with its nature as a research facility.  In view of this, it is imperative that the reactor fulfills its main purpose: to promote basic and applied research, following the example of other countries that have similar reactors and use them as platforms for their scientific and technological development.