Konstantin Zaytsev, vice chairman of State Duma Committee on Energy

– The past conference on nuclear energy development till 2020 has outlined several important directions

On July 29 Prime Minister of Russia, Chairman of United Russia party Vladimir Putin held a government conference on nuclear energy development in Elektrostal.

The past conference on nuclear energy development till 2020 has outlined several important directions.

First, the Prime Minister of Russia has pointed out that all efforts to reorganize the nuclear industry have been made with a view to strengthen Russia’s competitive advantages on the nuclear market and to create favorable conditions for its further development. As a result, already today Rosatom is showing serious progress. By the end of this year the exports are expected to amount to $4bln. The electricity production and sales are growing.

The second direction is personnel training and the initiative to establish a National Nuclear University.

It is clear that the intensive development of the nuclear industry in the coming 10–15 years will require lots of new personnel. I mean not only operators but also constructors, managers, designers and researchers. Unlike other national universities oriented towards research and development, the National Nuclear University may become Russia’s first higher school to train all necessary specialists for a specific sector.

The university will comprise 23 specialized educational institutions and will be able to train not only engineers and operators but also workers (welders, installers, etc.). The university will also serve as a laboratory, where our researchers and designers will be able to develop new nuclear reactors.

The Prime Minister’s urge that Rosatom should take an active part in the development of training programs and education quality standards implies that the huge gap that exists between nuclear universities and companies today will be overcome. The practice when universities teach students everything except for what they will really need onsite must be stopped. This will spare our nuclear companies the need to retain their newcomers.