In September 2, there was a ceremonial opening of the Educational and Scientific Laboratory «Nuclear Security» and presentation of Educational and Magister Program «Physical Protection and Accounting and Control of Nuclear Materials» in Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute.
A few years ago, specialists of Nuclear Security were trained at the National Institute of Nuclear Energy and Industry in the city of Sevastopol. However, after annexation of the Crimea by Russia, the amount of new higher education graduates who want to work in the Ukrainian energy sector reduce. It is true that several Ukrainian Higher Education Institutions carry out relevant disciplines for future energy engineers and implement training programs for specialists in the field of Security at nuclear facilities to standards as Western one, but until now, we have not provided a unique modern educational platform in the field of Nuclear Security in Ukraine.
The major gap must be prevented by the Magister's Program of Physical Protection, Accounting and Control of Nuclear Materials. The preparation for its implementation and development took more than three years. A program was made with the assistance of the US Department of Energy, under the initiative and support of which the specialists of the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies conducted a criterion score of the ability of Ukrainian universities to provide National Nuclear Security Training System. The Ukrainian university Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute is the most suitable for it.
Making speech at the ceremonial opening of the laboratory, Mykhailo Zgurovsky, Rector of Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute and academician of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine emphasized that the creation of a laboratory of Nuclear Security at KPI and the introduction of Magister's Program in training specialists with such specialization is not only the purchase of equipment and the development of the program. This is also the training of faculty staff, organized by the US Department of Energy. Due to their support, the staff of Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute completed an internship at Texas Tech University and Sandia National Laboratory of the United States, and participated in IAEA training courses.
The Ministry of Energy and Coal Industry of Ukraine and interested organizations (NNEGC Energoatom, State Inspectorate of Nuclear Regulation of Ukraine, Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine and others) also took part in the implementation of the program «Physical Protection, Accounting and Control of Nuclear Materials» in Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute. Practical training of such specialization will be carried out not only at the University, but also at the George Kuzmycz Training Center for Physical Protection, Control and Accounting of Nuclear Material, Institute of Nuclear Research of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, where there is appropriate equipment and training ground, on the basis of which practical training and internship of specialists have still carried out.
The Nuclear Security Laboratory will work at the Faculty of Heat Power Engineering, where for decades, all graduates of nuclear engineers have been successfully studying. Here, on the basis of the specialization 143 «Nuclear Energy» will be carried out a training of specialists in Physical Nuclear Protection, Accounting and Control of Nuclear Materials. The laboratory equipment was purchased with the financial support of the International Security Research and Outreach Programme (ISROP), and the renovation and preparation of its facilities for construction was made by the Swedish Radiation Safety Authority.
Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute has already made the first intake at this Magister's program for 2019-2020. According to this, 29 students have entered in extramural form of education; others will study in a full-time education. By the way, almost a third of these students are women.
The Ambassador of Canada in Ukraine Roman Vashchuk, Acting Director of the Energy Department of the US Embassy in Ukraine Nikolas Wond, Manager Scott Schramm, Swedish Radiation Safety Program Manager Zlatan Delalic, expert from James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies, Margarita Kalinina-Pohl from Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey in the USA, Representative of the Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TIKA) in Ukraine, IAEA expert Dmytro Nikonov, Deputy Minister of the Energy and Coal Industry of Ukraine Yuliia Pidkomorna, Head of the State Nuclear Regulatory Inspectorate of Ukraine Hryhorii Plachkov, Vice President of SE NNEGC Energoatom Volodymyr Pyshniy, Director of the Nuclear Energy and Nuclear Industry Complex of NNEGC Energoatom Oleh Kornikov, Head of George Kuzmycz Training Center for Physical Protection, Control and Accounting of Nuclear Material, Institute of Nuclear Research of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine Viktor Havryliuk, Dean of Faculty of Heat Power Engineering Yevhen Pysmennyi, other representatives of national and foreign organizations, as well as scientists and students who work and study in the field of Nuclear Security Technologies participated in the ceremonial opening of the laboratory and at the meeting on the occasion of beginning of the Magister's Program.
In the photo: ceremonial ribbon cutting in front of the entrance to «the Nuclear Security Laboratory».