U.S. Argonne National Laboratory Initiated Training for Ukrainian Students
In July 2021, students of three Ukrainian universities undergo specialized online training with experts from the U.S. Argonne National Laboratory. The training is held at the State Scientific and Technical Center for Nuclear and Radiation Safety (SSTC NRS) with administrative and financial support of the U.S. Department of Energy and the U.S. Department of State in the framework of American-Ukrainian short-term and long-term cooperation for nuclear energy issues.
The training course covers licensing of small modular reactors, their safety aspects and potential use in Ukraine’s energy network. Over a month, students will be familiarized with the physics of SMRs, design philosophy of nuclear reactors in the United States, aspects related to licensing and economic issues of small modular reactors.
Lectures are delivered in English by SSTC NRS experts, representatives of Holtec, Western Services, as well as Ukrainian companies involved in safety assessment projects for U.S. SMRs. The knowledge gained will be useful for graduates of the course in the future, when SMR technologies will be introduced in Ukraine.
The group of participants consists of 11 third- and fourth- year students of the Sikorsky Kyiv Politechnic Institute, Lviv and Odessa National Polytechnic Universities. They were selected upon the results of an English-language essay competition. The practical component includes a visit to the Rivne NPP, which is being considered by course organizers as a potential candidate site for the deployment of SMRs. After defending a scientific paper on the topic of the learned material, the graduates will be able to go to the United States for internship at the Argonne National Laboratory.
