Regional Center for Nuclear Studies

In August the United States Atomic Energy Commission instructed CIA officer Larry Devlin to steal the reactor's fuel rods, rendering TRICO inoperable, and advise Gillon of this.

[5] From 1970 onwards it is known as CREN-K, Regional Center for Nuclear studies (French: Centre Régional d'Études Nucléaires de Kinshasa).

In 1968 the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Belgium signed general agreements on continued technological and scientific cooperation.

[6] The Institute for Radioactive Elements (IRE) in Fleurus Belgium assisted CREN-K in the production of medical isotopes.

Because the American company General Dynamics Corporation, which had been contracted to deliver these parts, was unable to fulfil its obligations due to an embargo imposed on the Mobutu government.

[1] In exchange for spare parts and training seminars from the IAEA the Democratic Republic of the Congo participates in RAF and AFRA projects.

[6] Since 2010 there have been renewed campaigns to gather more support among the public opinion for CREN-K and utilizing the national resource that is uranium.

It is a state-owned company under the supervision of the scientific research department of MESU, the Ministry of Higher Education (French: Ministère de L'Énseignement Superieur et Universitaire).

In 1998, a wall in the Regional Center for Nuclear Studies collapsed when torrential rains undermined the building's foundation.

[13] International Atomic Energy Agency officials have voiced concerns that the ongoing issue with erosion could lead to an accident that might contaminate the city of Kinshasa's water supply.

[15] In 2007, the research center's director Fortunat Lumu and an aide were arrested and questioned about the disappearance of a large quantity of nuclear material, which local media reported was as much as 100 bars of uranium.

[16] In 2010, leaked diplomatic cables reported on the troublesome security and safety situation, including manioc farming adjacent to a building storing nuclear waste.

In 2012, Vincent Lukanda (CGEA Commissar-General) declared that CREN-K was no longer threatened by erosion, and that the Congolese government was committed to protecting and modernizing the nuclear site, citing investments into a new perimeter fence.