A contest of research and technology studies of young professionals, which has become the result of their long-term training at the subdivisions of the enterprise*, was held at Kola NPP.

The young nuclear scientists offered their own vision of certain problems in the process of operation of Kola NPP and their own developments in dealing with the tasks to the approval of the competent judges represented by the experts of the main shops of the nuclear power plant and representatives of the management under the guidance of a Chief Engineer.

Opening the contest, Director of Kola NPP, Vasiliy Omelchuk, marked that the management of the enterprise paid close attention to the scientific developments of the youth. ТThe final studies are not only the starting platform for the profound study of industrial tasks that the management sets for the young professionals. It is also a great opportunity to show themselves competent and demanded engineers,У stressed Director of the nuclear power plant.

In summing up the contest, the basic criteria for identifying the best works were: relevance of the topic, practical significance, depth of the scientific study, design of the work, originality of presentation of materials, public speaking, and ability to answer the questions. The studies of the young professionals were estimated according to the five-point scale for each of the criteria.

The maximum number of points given by the jury scored two projects at the same time. It was a work of an Engineer of the Department of Nuclear Safety and Reliability, Roman Vlasov, who, with the use of APROS software system, gave an estimation of time of boiling-off of the fuel storage pond of Unit 4 of Kola NPP. Also, the ТgoldУ was won by the joint project of Engineers of the Reactor Shop, Timothy Sokolov and Mikhail Golubev, on the possibility of overdraft of groundwater of the industrial site of the nuclear power plant.  

* After signing up at Kola NPP, the young professional receives a personal task, the so-called final paper. He is given a year and a half of estimated time to develop and design the study. Then the work is submitted to approval to the contest committee under the guidance of a Chief Engineer.

First the contest of the final papers was carried out at the nuclear power plant in 2002: the contest committee studied the reports and then made decisions about the winners and prizes. In 2011 the format of the event changed Р young professionals made presentations of their reports personally, defending them.

On line detailed data on the radiation environment near nuclear power plants in Russia and other nuclear facilities are provided on website www.russianatom.ru