15.08.2007 // Information Department of Balakovo NPP

Young employees of Balakovo NPP have come back from the 7th international festival of young nuclear power engineers “Desnay”

Recently a group of young employees of Balakovo NPP have come back from Sosnovy Bor where they took part in the 7th international festival of young nuclear power engineers “Desnay.” The member of the Balakovo NPP team, mechanic Denis Yermolayev has shared his impressions of the festival.

— We had arrived at the so-called Field a day before the opening ceremony. The festival started the next morning with the screaming welcomes of the hosts onstage who tried to outcry the roaring music and the cheerful whoopees of a motley disorderly audience of some 150 youngsters who rocked joyfully to that very music. At last, the “dinosaurs” lined us all up and led us to the river for a “wash.” Shortly afterwards we came back for initiation into “balalars,” which in Bashkirian means “children of one father.”       

— Who are the “dinosaurs”?

— At Desnay the dinosaurs are a special team of “old” young nuclear power engineers: the “fathers” of the movement, the founders of the tradition.

This year Sosnovy Bor welcomed delegations from many Russian NPPs and specialized universities as well as our colleagues from Lithuania and Ukraine. The hosts, the Youth Organization of Leningrad NPP, did a great job: everything was perfectly organized, the ceremony was really dazzling. The stage had the form of a submarine.

In his welcoming speech the deputy director of Leningrad NPP Nikolay Kirillov said that LNPP needs Desnay very much: “For us life and production are closely related. On the one hand, this festival is a great contribution to our work, on the other, it is an excellent chance to have a rest from it.”

The advisor of the director general of Rosenergoatom Oleg Zheltov – the patron of almost all cultural and sports initiatives of Rosenergoatom – was also there. He welcomed the youths and pointed out that despite being young the Desnay Movement is already very popular. 

We would like to note that it was exactly at Desnay in 2000 that the first NPP youth organizations were formed. Now those organizations are a big force at their plants.

— As far as I know Desnay is also an opportunity to exchange professional experience…

— You are quite right. Desnay is not just a funny show but also a serious forum. Each year we hold coordinating meetings. This time we also held a scientific conference. It was a serious event – an opportunity for rollicking youngsters to stop for a moment and to discuss serious problems. 

The conference was organized by the Youth Scientific Council of Leningrad NPP. Young specialists from Smolensk, Volgodonsk, Khmelnitsky, Zaporizhia and South Ukrainian NPPs, A.P.Alexandrov Nuclear Energy Institute and students of the St.Petersburg and Obninsk nuclear energy institutes made reports about WWER safety, ball cleaning technology, prevention of corrosion, modernization, environment protection, radioactive waste treatment, personnel health, inter-generational continuity, etc.. The audience showed keen interest in the problems and the reports were followed by heated constructive debates.

— What achievements have you made this year?

— We have always been the most sportive team of the festival. This year we organized street-ball, volley-ball and foot-ball tournaments and won them.

Desnay is steadily growing. It has become a big forum of young and creative nuclear power engineers, the people who are to build the future of our industry. I am sure that this festival will go on.

                                                                                                                                                               Natalia Markova