The Microtron MT-25 facility in Cuba. A contribution to the regional cooperation

One of the main difficulties to develop nuclear application research is the lack of nuclear facilities. Different approaches and initiatives have been raised looking for more comprehensive exchanges. However, it is still necessary to strengthen regional cooperation in nuclear applications, in particular in the common use of accelerators and other nuclear facilities, based on a cooperative scheme in which each country contributes with its own facilities. The Microtron MT-25 Project in Cuba is proposed to deal with this kind of scheme. The construction of an electron accelerator up to 25 MeV, called Microtron MT-25, was finished in 1990 for Cuba, as a result of the collaboration of Cuban and Russian physicists in the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research in Dubna, Russia. The Microtron MT-25 is an electron cycle-accelerator which allows electrons, gamma rays and neutrons to be obtained. The principal characteristics of the accelerator and radiation are described in the paper. The Microtron-Havana facility is conceived for fundamental and applied research. The fundamental research topics of interest are photonuclear reaction studies, Nuclear Astrophysics reactions and photofission reactions. The applied research program involved in the Microtron Project consists of Gamma and Neutron Activation Analysis applied in Environment, Agriculture, Geology, Minerals, as well as materials science. Production of radioactive sources and radioisotopes. Medical and biological applications.To develop the research program, interested institutions need to form a User's Club. It will be formed, among others, by Brazil (Institute of Physics, Univ. Sao Paulo, Linear Accelerator Lab.), Argentina (Tandem Accelerator, called Tandar), Mexico (Institute of Physic, UNAM, Experimental Physics Department), Cuba (ISCTN, CEADEN, Isotopes Center, and IMRE from Havana University.) The participation of the members in the program exploitation will be based on projects in which the financial matters and other related issues are clearly specified.The Cuban Physical Society, by its membership in the Latin American Federation of Physical Societies (FELASOFI) and in the Latin American Physical Commission (CLAF), is applying to the UNESCO and other international agencies for financing the Microtron installation in Havana. We invite nuclear physicists of other countries for contributing to the research program of the microtron facility with new projects. Then, the Microtron MT-25 facility in Cuba would be too a result of international cooperation in the physics community. (author)