On December 17 Rosatom Technical Academy, Rosatom Emergency Response Centre and Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University signed a Memorandum of Understanding on Capacity Building in the area of emergency preparedness and response (EPR).
Director of Nuclear Safety and Licensing Department of ROSATOM Mr Sergey RAIKOV congratulated the participants on the start of a new promising project and noted: “This event is very important for us. Master’s education is a new stage in our development. When constructing NPPs by Russian design, it is important to understand that specialists operating these facilities should have a high level of knowledge, training and qualification, and be able to quickly respond to difficult situations. I am sure that cooperation in this matter has a great future.”
Rector of Rosatom Technical Academy Dr Yuri SELEZNEV noted in his speech that “nowadays, ensuring the proper level of emergency preparedness and response to nuclear or radiological incidents is an integral part of the safe use of nuclear technologies. The specifics of emergency preparedness and response issue requires not only the appropriate infrastructure, but also a sufficient number of qualified personnel.”
Rector of Rosatom Tech, Dr Yuri SELEZNEV signing the MoU
Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University, which has extensive experience in education of bachelors and masters in the field of “Technosphere Safety”, expressed the interest in the implementation of the programme in Russia and the training of both foreign and domestic students.
“For many years, the Polytechnic University has been successfully cooperating with ROSATOM and is one of its target universities in the field of nuclear training of national and foreign personnel. Thus, for more than five years, the Polytechnic University has been preparing Turkish students for the Akkuyu NPP – more than 70 students from Turkey are currently studying in four nuclear energy education programmes. In total, more than 100 students from Turkey, Vietnam, and Rwanda study in various programmes as part of the educational cooperation between the Polytechnic University and ROSATOM” – emphasized the rector of SPbSPU, Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences Dr Andrey RUDSKOI.
Rector of SPbSPU, Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences Dr Andrey RUDSKOI
Mr Andrey SOROKIN, Director General of Rosatom Emergency Response Centre, expressed his willingness for cooperation in training specialists: “This training programme and the level of trainers and instructors who will teach and supervise issues of industrial practice should have the appropriate level of skills and competencies to meet the current needs and facilitate the effective teaching practice. With my signature, I confirm my interest and readiness to support our joint initiative.”
Director General of Rosatom Emergency Response Centre Mr Andrey SOROKIN
The framework for the cooperation is a need of the development and implementation of a unified Master’s Degree Programme on EPR and a harmonized approach to international cooperation in this field identified by the survey of the IAEA Member States. For this purpose, the working group «Education and Academics» was created within the framework of the iNET-EPR network and representatives of the leading universities of the world were involved in the development of the IAEA Master’s Degree Programme.
Pilot of the IAEA Master’s Degree Programme is scheduled for 2021-2022. Federal State Educational Standards of Higher Education together with joint experience of the IAEA, Rosatom Tech and Rosatom Emergency Technical Center in the field of emergency preparedness and response training, will increase the attractiveness and status of Russian education in the international educational market, as well as increase the focus on training of Russian qualified national personnel.
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The International Network iNET-EPR was established in 2019 to assist IAEA Member States in global efforts to create, enhance and sustain emergency preparedness and response capacities, including effective joint activities of the IAEA Capacity Building Centres.
By providing coordination and methodological support for the development of the Master’s programme on EPR, Rosatom Technical Academy also fully supports the global trend of involving more women to work in the nuclear industry. Following the results of participation in the IAEA Marie Sklodowska-Curie Fellowship Programme Anna Stepanova was awarded with grant to study on the international master’s program at SPbPU in 2021.