[2][3][a] Currently, it is used as a gamma ray facility for microbiological sterilization of surgical supplies, packaging, medicine and dry food.

[5] During the regime of president Marcos Pérez Jiménez, Venezuela became member of the International Atomic Energy Agency after purchasing the RV-1 reactor from General Electric in 1956.

[9] The reactor was constructed in the grounds of the Venezuelan Institute of Neurology and Brain Research (IVNIC, now known as IVIC - Venezuelan Institute for Scientific Research) under the supervision of Humberto Fernández-Morán; he never saw the project finished, as he went into exile after the Pérez Jiménez regime fell in 1958.

[6] The reactor reached criticality in 1960 and was used for several decades to perform physics research, radiochemistry, production of radioisotopes and as neutron source.

[1] Under the name 'Pegamma',[1] IVIC received the authorization in 2004 to use the renewed reactor facility as an industrial irradiation plant, with a cobalt-60 gamma rays source with a capacity of 1 megacurie.