19.02.2008 // Information Center of Beloyarsk NPP/Press service of Rosenergoatom Concern

5th Open Kurchatov Lectures took place in Zarechny Feb 14–16 2008

The 5th Open Kurchatov Lectures took place in Zarechny, Sverdlovsk region, Feb 14–16 2008. The organizer of the event was Beloyarsk Nuclear Power Plant, the Education Department of Zarechny and High School #1.

Kurchatov Lectures have been conducted every year since 2004. This time the lectures involved young researchers from Zarechny, Novouralsk, Serov, the villages of Kochnevskoye and Mezenskoye, the village of Gagarka (Sverdlovsk region).

The director of Beloyarsk Nuclear Power Plant Nikolay Oshkanov, the deputy head of the municipal district of Zarechny Vladimir Korenkov and the head of the Education Department of Zarechny Svetlana Vereschagina attended the official opening ceremony.

The participants presented reports in five sections: humanitarian problems, ecology, medicine and biology, science and technology and engineering. The preliminary selection was carried out by a group of nuclear experts.

The jury comprised leading specialists of Beloyarsk NPP, employees of the Institute of Ecology of Plants and Animals, veterans of nuclear power industry, professors of Ural State Technical University.

Over 50 schoolchildren took part in the lectures. 21 of them were proclaimed laureates.

The jury pointed out two works on information technologies: groups of school-leavers from Zarechny and Novouralsk designed WEB-quest “Nuclear Power Industry of Russia” and web-site on prevention of radio-phobia.

The other winners studied the problems of personnel training, small nuclear plants, qualities of radon, ecology of water resources.

20 teachers got prizes. The teacher of school #1 of Zarechny Tamara Tikhonova (instructor of six laureates) and the teacher of school #4 Tatiana Kungurtseva (four laureates) got special prizes. For many years already those two teachers have been instructing applications for Kurchatov Lectures.

The participants in the lectures visited Beloyarsk NPP: the existing BN-600 unit and the future BN-800 one. They were impressed with the sight of the construction: it was the first time they had visited a construction site.

A number of projects have been recommended for participation in the “Energy of the Future 2008” international contest.