22.02.2008 // Information Department of Leningrad NPP

The regional round of the “Energy of the Future” international competition took place at the IT Center of Sosnovy Bor on Feb 20

The objective of the competition is to attract the attention of schoolchildren and their teachers to the problems of ecology, nuclear industry, future development of power engineering. The competition has five nominations: “Nature and Technosphere,” “Energy Sector, Regional Development, Quality of Life,” “Radiation and Life,” “Mysteries of Nucleus,” “Nuclear Power Engineering and Society.”

Almost 30 research projects were presented at the regional contest. The jury of the contest included leading specialists of Leningrad Nuclear Power Plant.

The organizer of the “Energy of the Future” competition is the Children’s Nuclear Academy, and the Sosnovy Bor IT Center is its branch. It is the second time that Sosnovy Bor is taking part in the competition. “It is not a coincidence that we have a branch of the Children’s Nuclear Academy. Sosnovy Bor is the satellite city of Leningrad Nuclear Power Plant. We also have a research institute of technologies and an institute of nuclear power engineering,” says the director of the IT Center Nina Pangina. Leningrad NPP is the closer partner and sponsor of the Center.

“This year we have participants from St.Peterbsurg, Gatchina, Vyborg and Primorsk. We hope that the number of participants will be steadily growing,” says the training specialist of the IT Center Olga Chudovskaya.

Yulia Korolevskaya from school #309 of St.Petersburg with her study of the content of oil products in water facilities of St.Petersburg was proclaimed the winner.

Anna Krylova (Vysotsk, Vyborg district) and Tatiana Grebenets (school #2, Sosnovy Bor) won the 1st place;

Nikita Obraztsov and Sergey Dmitriyev from school #2 of Sosnovy Bor — the 2nd place.

and Yuri Maslovoyev (school #309 of St.Petersburg) and Kirill Divschepolsky (school #2 of Sosnovy Bor) – the 3rd place.

All the participants and even their supporters were granted valuable prizes as well as magazines and brochures about Sosnovy Bor and Leningrad NPP.

The best projects will be submitted to the final round of the competition, which is to take place in Moscow in Apr 2008.

The chairman of the jury Sergey Golubchikov said: “The progress is evident. The works are getting better and better. In fact, all of them are winners: they have overcome their laziness, lots of difficulties and have managed to successfully complete their studies.”

“Now that we have started to build Leningrad NPP-2, we need to train new specialists. This competition can make a significantly contribution to the development of our region. Wide participation in such contests will help us to overcome the radio-phobia inspired by some media,” Golubchikov said.

It was a real pleasure for the participants to visit the Institute of Nuclear Power Engineering, a higher school training specialists for the nuclear power industry. The first deputy director of the institute Anatoly Yeperin told the children about the nuclear power industry, its advantages, achievements and prospects. The guests visited the institute’s laboratory and its analytical RBML simulator.

Perhaps, some of the children who have taken part in the “Energy of the Future” contest and have visited the Institute of Nuclear Power Engineering will become nuclear power engineers. If this happens, the goal of the contest will be achieved.