The TPU IRT-T Nuclear Research Reactor has extended an operation license for another 10 years.
“License acquisition from the Federal Service for Environmental, Technological and Nuclear Supervision (Rostechnadzor), a supervisory body, is always a very complicated process, especially when it refers to such a long-term period. We submitted the document set proving installation safety for approval in 2019. After that, the Federal Service for Environmental, Technological and Nuclear Supervision commissioned a formal safety assessment that was conducted by the expert organization. These works lasted about nine months. As a result, we received expert findings including all remarks and recommendations. Ultimately, we acquired a license. We are deeply thankful to the entire team of the Reactor taking an active part in all the stages of license acquisition. At the moment, having acquired a license, we will keep improving our work,” Artem Naymushin, Head of the TPU Nuclear Research Reactor, says specifying that an operation license was initiated by the order of TPU Rector Andrey Yakovlev.
He adds that expert findings include a lot of aspects related to compliance with the requirements of physical protection, nuclear and radiation safety, staff and population protection, and others. Moreover, the Reactor staff prepares annual reports on the condition of the unique research installation for the supervisory body.
The TPU Nuclear Research Reactor is the one operating university reactor in Russia. The regular remanufacturing operations were completed within the Federal Targeted Program for Research and Development in the last year.
The project provided the renewal of the research complex and expansion of functional capabilities through the inclusion of the unique set of global user stations: an experimental automated complex for doping semiconductor materials, a multipurpose complex for irradiation of target samples on extracted neutron fluxes, a gamma-ray laser, an installation for research of interaction of nuclear materials with active gases, a digital spectrometric complex for positron annihilation spectroscopy, a complex for the production of industrial and medical isotopes, a complex for the production of radiopharmaceuticals.
The IRT-T Nuclear Research Reactor is aimed at research neutrons, neutron radiation, objects of the microcosm, conducting fundamental and applied research at the forefront of science. It helps to create new materials and technology in the energy industry, to develop promising medication and technology of nuclear medicine.
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The TPU Nuclear Research Reactor is also a unique educational site. Annually, 430 students are trained at the Reactor. They acquire practical knowledge on controlling a nuclear power plant, providing physical protection of facilities of nuclear energy, nuclear and radiation safety. As a result, graduates of TPU is a foundation of the Russian nuclear industry. TPU graduates hold senior positions at the six out of 10 operating nuclear power plants in Russia.
Furthermore, international students can undergo training only at the Tomsk reactor among all operating reactors in Russia. They prepare to work at facilities of the nuclear industry in their countries. Since 2015, students from Egypt, Ghana, Nigeria, India, China, Tanzania, Brazil, Zambia, Iran and Vietnam have been trained here. They studied control of a nuclear installation.