In summer The International Relations Department (IRD) of Rosatom State Atomic Energy Corporation (ROSATOM) traditionally accepts interns from ROSATOM’s basic universities and other higher education institutions to acquaint them with the specifics of current nuclear power industry development and young specialists’ work in the Corporation. On 19 July 2022 The Moscow Branch of Rosatom Technical Academy organized an introductory workshop for interns on the promising areas of nuclear technologies development namely the implementation of small modular reactors (SMRs). It should be noted that SMRs were chosen by IRD supervisors as internship topics for Daria Scherbakova, a student from the Department of Theoretical and Experimental Physics of Nuclear Reactors, National Research Nuclear University MEPhI (NRNU MEPhI), and Alyona Nikolayeva, a student from the Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO).
During the workshop at the Academy Daria Scherbakova made a comparative analysis of the nuclear fuel cycle back ends of SMRs and traditional large nuclear reactors, while Alyona Nikolayeva presented the historical aspect of the closed fuel cycle development at an NPP. Her presentation covered events from the Russian President’s initiative proposed at the Millennium Summit on 6 September 2000, which triggered the establishment of the International Project on Innovative Nuclear Reactors and Fuel Cycles (INPRO) by the IAEA in 2001, to the ongoing construction of the Pilot Demonstration Energy Complex (PDEC) equipped with BREST –OD-300 fast reactor in the Seversk City, the Tomsk Region.
The interns’ mentor was Milana Ozerina, a Masters undergraduate of the Institute of International Relations (IIR), NRNU MEPhI. Her Master’s thesis covered SMRs’ safeguards enhancement with the focus on 3S concept (Safety, Security, Safeguards).
The Academy was represented Mr. Viktor Mazepov, the Director of the Centre for International Relations, and Mr. Anton Dyachenko, the Chief Project Expert in Operating Personnel Training for the Pilot Demonstration Power Unit with BREST –OD-300 fast reactor, who described the IAEA’s recommended systematic training approach (STA) traditionally used by the Academy in NPP personnel training.
Rosatom Technical Academy actively cooperates with ROSATOM’s basic universities and develops the connection between the nuclear power industry and the academic institutions through students’ involvement in professional activity by organizing mentorship workshops at the site and maintaining other international mentoring initiatives.
