April 26, the day of the 35th anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant tragedy, Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute was visited by the Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Rafael Mariano Grossi. Together with the Rector of the University, Academician of the NAS of Ukraine Michael Zgurovsky and representatives of several energy-oriented faculties, he laid flowers at the monument to the liquidator of the Chernobyl accident, Hero of Ukraine, graduate of Kyiv Polytechnic Oleksandr Lelechenko, met university staff and gave a lecture to students, who study at the educational master's programs "Nuclear Power Plants" and "Physical Protection and Accounting and Control of Nuclear Materials", answered questions from students. The lecture was held in video conference format, was open and broadcast on the official university YouTube channel.
At the beginning of the lecture, Rafael Mariano Grossi said that he would talk not about the technical or scientific aspects of the Chernobyl disaster, but about its significance and lessons for humanity. He also spoke about critical issues of nuclear safety. Strengthening international cooperation to resolve them should ensure that such catastrophes are prevented today and in the future, so he devoted much of his speech to the issues of establishing such cooperation and international conventions and other documents that regulate these issues.
"Ensuring nuclear safety is a daily effort that cannot be stopped for a moment," said Rafael Mariano Grossi, addressing the audience. Among other things, he stressed that nuclear energy has a significant role and makes a significant contribution to solving the problem of decarbonization of the world economy - solving global environmental problems of mankind by replacing fossil fuels with other energy sources. "In Europe, nuclear energy is the largest supplier of" clean "energy, - he said. - And in the world, it generates a third of that energy." Therefore, from this point of view, the work on improving and enhancing the safety of nuclear energy technologies is of great importance.
During the meeting, the university administration addressed the head of the IAEA with a proposal to open master's program for training specialists in the decommissioning of nuclear power plants on the basis of Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute. This is especially important given that the number of nuclear power units that have already exhausted their resources and must be shut down without harming the industry and the environment is constantly growing, and no one in our country is currently training specialists in this area. Therefore, the problem should be solved, and it should be solved by competent specialists who can be trained at Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute.