The V International Conference “Prospects for the introduction of innovations in nuclear energy”
The V International Conference “Prospects for the introduction of innovations in nuclear energy” was held in the large conference-hall of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine on September 28-29, 2023. Among the organizers of the conference were the Institute for Safety Problems of NPP of the NAS of Ukraine, Public organization “Ukrainian Nuclear Society” (“UkrNS”) and the Council of Young Scientists at the Department of Physical and Technical Problems of Power Engineering of the NAS of Ukraine.
The Conference consisted of plenary and section sessions, where more than 60 scientific reports were presented.
The Conference was opened by Yurii Sheiko, temporary acting First Vice-President-Technical Director of the SSE NNEGC “Energoatom”. Anatolii Nosovskyi, academician, Director of the Institute for Safety Problems of NPP presented his welcoming speech. He talked about the challenges faced by armed aggression of the russian federation, and also expressed gratitude to the colleagues scientists from Poland, Japan, the USA, Great Britain, Germany, the Czech Republic and other countries for given charitable, financial and technical assistance, which helps Ukrainian scientists to conduct research in such a hard time for Ukrainian science.
Plenary session of the Conference began with a report of Volodymyr Borysenko, Doctor of technical sciences, Head of the Division for Nuclear Power “Nuclear Power in the world: trends and prospects”, in which he presented information on the state of nuclear power in the world and Ukraine over the last 30 years. The major attention was paid to modern trends in nuclear reactor construction in different countries, which is based on the modern nuclear reactors of the III+ generation, small modular reactors and on innovative reactor technologies of the IV generation.
During the plenary session of the conference, reports on the current state of nuclear power and nuclear research in Ukraine and the world were presented, a large number of reports were devoted to the development of hydrogen cogeneration technologies at NPPs. The reports also raised the topics of licensing of new power units in Ukraine; consideration of public opinion in the development of innovative technologies in atomic energy and the issue of international cooperation in this field. In particular, the Board Chairman of the “Czechatom” company, Martin Groh, told about the technical characteristics of the small modular reactor David, which was developed by Czech specialists, and which can be implemented in Ukraine.
In addition to the Institute for Safety Problems of NPP of the NAS of Ukraine, the Conference was attended by representatives of the National Science Center “Kharkiv Institute of Physics and Technology”, the State Scientific and Technical Center for Nuclear and Radiation Safety (SSTC NRS), other institutes of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine: the Institute for Nuclear Research (INR), Institute of Electrodynamics, Institute of Environmental Geochemistry, Institute of Electrophysics and Radiation Technologies, Frantsevich Institute for Problems of Materials Science, E. O. Paton Electric Welding Institute; specialists of SSE NNEGC “Energoatom” and Ukrainian NPPs, other enterprises and organizations of the industry; Odesa Polytechnic National University and Lviv Polytechnic National University.
The work of the conference on September 29 began with a discussion panel: discussion of the concept “Management of the aging of dry storage of spent nuclear fuel.” The moderator of the panel, Volodymyr Borysenko, presented information on the problems of spent nuclear fuel (SNF) management in different countries, as well as on the technological need to extend the life of SNF storage facilities. In connection with this, there is a problem of managing the aging of SNF storage facilities to ensure their operation in excess of project terms. The discussion was attended by representatives of the SSTC NRS, INR of the NAS of Ukraine, the Atom Project Engineering, the NNEGC “Energoatom”, the Institute of Applied Physics of the NAS of Ukraine, V. I. Vernadskyi Institute of General and Inorganic Chemistry of the NAS of Ukraine, and the ISP NPP of the NAS of Ukraine. The main focus of the discussion was on the SNF characterization for different types of reactor installations; the use of residual energy release of SNF; the need to take into account changes in meteorological conditions during long-term storage of SNF; the need to implement the technology of non-destructive control of the integrity of SNF and environmental aspects of storage and disposal of SNF. An approach to developing a concept for managing the aging of SNF storage facilities based on the experience of the world’s leading nuclear countries, first of all the USA, as well as taking into account the developments within the IAEA research projects was approved.
From the Institute for Safety Problems of NPP of the NAS of Ukraine, reports were made by:
Andrii Sadovnikov — “Development of an automated welding device for welding containers with vitreous radioactive waste”;
Oleksandr Proskurin — “Development of laser fragmentation methods of LFCM based on experimental studies with simulators”;
Vadym Goranchuk — “Determining the linear energy release of VVER-1000 fuel elements by rhodium SPND signals”;
Anton Syniagovskyi — “Development of a technique for simultaneous determination of the composition of waste gas and ash content during burning (for research purposes) of irradiated graphite of nuclear installations”;
Maksym Yurov — “Activity and residual energy release of VVER-1000 nuclear fuel during operation and storage”.
Based on the results of the Conference, a collection of report abstracts will be published, and interesting reports will be published as scientific articles in the journal “Nuclear Power and the Environment”.
