In May 2018, the State Specialized Design Institute, which only shareholder is Rosatom Overseas, and the Government of Zambia signed a contract for the construction of the Centre for Nuclear Science and Technologies.

The project involves the construction of 10-megawatt nuclear installation, laboratory facilities, irradiation facility and centre studying nuclear medicine.

In December 2018 Rusatom handed over the final report on the assessment of nuclear infrastructure in the Republic of Zambia to Minister of Higher Education of the country, Professor Nkandu Luo and Secretary to the Cabinet Ph.D. Roland Msiska. The report was handed over under the contract for assessment and development of nuclear infrastructure in the country.

The project was expected to be finished by 2026, but in the beginning of 2020 its implementation was postponed. As for now, Zambia is expecting some «concrete steps» from the Government of Russia.

In September 2020 Zambia’s ambassador to Russia Shadreck Luwita reported that the countries’ officials were going to discuss the CNST project in Zambia, which was suspended due to COVID-19. According to him, the parties were expected to hold a videoconference in September and then present the updated roadmap of the project. Official visits are to begin after the world’s lockdown.

In December 2020, while visiting Zambia, Valentina Matvienko, Chairman of the Federation Council of Russia, stated: «With our joint efforts we will find possible ways of assisting in financing the beginning of construction of the CNST». She also noted that Rosatom had already provided 30 state scholarships for educating the future CNST specialists.