On March 2, 2011 a broadened meeting of “Clean Energy” press-club, founded two years ago, was held in Balakovo NPP Public Information Centre. 

Yury Terekhov, PIC head, told the representatives of region and city mass media of the results of the nuclear plant work in 2010, of the main directions of the further work for the current year.

According to Dmitry Shevchenko, deputy head of the PIC, the purpose of the press-club establishment is the fact that every mass media must have at least one journalist well-prepared, informed and competent in the issues of nuclear power. “It is important for us that open press should have as few technically illiterate and unreliable articles about our branch as possible that may be implemented only through a constant work with Mass Media”, - Dmitry Shevchenko underlined.

Then the journalists became witnesses of a debate between school teams of gymnasium No. 2 and lyceum No. 1 on the topic “In the World of Nuclear Technologies”. That was already the second scientific dispute on the essential problems of nuclear industry with the participation of senior schoolchildren; the first was organized by the PIC specialists a year ago. The schoolchildren of the two general education institutions are included into the Municipal Scientific Society of Students (SSS) that within 19 years has actively collaborated with Balakovo NPP.

The debate participants who by turns took the roles of nuclear technologies adherents or negated the necessity of nuclear industry development, demonstrated a good preparation and eggheadism in the discussion of the questions concerning a great number of nuclear equipment and technology aspects, gave various arguments to prove their point of view. In the discussion process the gymnasium students appeared to be more polemic and the lyceum students were remarkable by a greater reliability, scientific and evidential base. 

According to the debate results, Sophia Konstantinova (gymnasium No. 2) was chosen the best spokesman, and Vladimir Borodulin (lyceum No. 1) asked the rivals the best questions. All the participants were awarded diplomas.