Nuclear power opens up large scope of work for scientists

OSTROVETS DISTRICT, 29 November (BelTA) - Nuclear power opens a large scope of work for scientists, First Deputy Chairman of the Presidium of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus (NASB) Sergei Chizhik told the media, BelTA has learned.

“Nuclear power, as well as space, opens a large scope of work for scientists. With the commissioning of the Belarusian nuclear power plant (BelNPP) the scope of this work is only expanding. This includes the use of electricity, the nuclear medicine project, energy storage, and electric transport,” Sergei Chizhik said.

In his words, the experience gained after the Chernobyl accident is invaluable. “This is, for example, efforts to mitigate consequences, restore lands. We have institutes working in this area,” Sergei Chizhik stressed.

A session of the Commission of the CIS Member States on Peaceful Uses of Atomic Energy is taking place at premises of the Belarusian nuclear power plant on 29 November. Taking part in the session are representatives of the ministries of energy, natural resources and environmental protection, emergencies, academies of sciences, scientific institutions, regulatory bodies of the CIS states, and representatives of the Russian state nuclear industry corporation Rosatom.

Participants of the session are expected to discuss progress in fulfilling the program on developing national nuclear infrastructures of the CIS states and an action plan on implementing the program, matters concerning public acceptability of peaceful nuclear energy projects and promising projects in the area of non-energy technologies. Opportunities for cooperation within the framework of the international research center based on a multipurpose fast research reactor are also under consideration.

Apart from that, the commission is expected to consider a complex of measures meant to improve safety culture in the area of peaceful uses of atomic energy, a draft agreement on making nuclear legacy facilities safe, and an action plan on implementing the agreement on transboundary shipments of radioactive materials.