Final Report Summary - ENEN-RU II (Strengthening of Cooperation and Exchange for Nuclear Education and Training between the European Union and the Russian Federation)
Executive Summary:
The ENEN RU II project is titled "Strengthening of Cooperation and Exchange for Nuclear Education and Training between the European Union and the Russian Federation"; consisting of two parallel projects on the EU side and the Russian side. The objectives of the entire project have been:
• to further define a common basis for effective cooperation between the European and Russian networks for nuclear Education &Training (E&T);
• to define an implementation plan based on the needs of cooperation in the long-term;
• to solve the difficulties for cooperation found during the ENEN-RU project;
• to implement a collaboration plan in a sustainable manner;
• to operate the knowledge management framework; and
• to list up and promote further use of E&T facilities, laboratories and equipment.
The ENEN-RU II project (www.enen.eu/en/projects/enenru2.html) has achieved to develop a sustainable framework of cooperation between the EU and the Russian Federation (Rosatom-cicet.ru/category/cooperation-under-enen-ru-projects) in terms of Nuclear Education and Training. The achieved results provided:
• Mechanisms of short-term and long-term manner of cooperation have been established through a permanent E&T Forum reinforced by several bilateral collaboration agreements among the participants and an online database of infrastructure’s and E&T facilities (enenru-db.net).
• Opportunities for cooperation have been identified and launched based on the joint collaboration at Master level (through university exchange agreements and joint courses), PhD level (joint research lines based on established doctorate stages) and joint training programs for young professionals.
• Implementation of seven jointly organized technical courses on: Engineering aspects of Fuel Fabrication, Safety issues of VVER-type reactors with nuclear fuel based on reprocessed uranium, Nuclear Safety Culture methodology and practice, Systematic Approach to Training methodology, Introduction to Nuclear safety analysis of Nuclear Reactors with state-of-art Computer Programs, Multiphysics simulation of nuclear systems, Simulation of different NPPs operation; reaching more than 60 participants.
• Organization of four Forum meetings, 4 PhD stages and 1 Summer School on Engineering Computer Modelling.
The project was facilitated agreements of mutual recognition of the E &T programmes on both sides leading to the expansion of the exchanges. The results offer to nuclear research and industry a future broader basis of human resources and foster cooperation in nuclear power development.
Project Context and Objectives:
2.1. Work Package 1 - Nuclear Competence Building by Education and Training
The objectives of the first Work Package are:
- To promote the implementation of the Bologna process and ECTS within the National Research Nuclear University in Russia in close relationship with the Russian regulations;
- To establish the nuclear competences required for BS and MS level graduates in Nuclear Engineering based on learning outcomes as defined by knowledge, skills and attitudes;
- To analyze the curricula for Nuclear Engineering in EU countries and Russia;.
- To investigate the opportunity of professional E&T passport based on ECVET for Russian professionals; and
- To define, on this basis, the criteria for mutual recognition of nuclear E&T.
2.2. Work Package 2 - ENEN-RU E&T Forum
The objectives of the second Work Package are:
- To establish the ENEN-RU E&T Forum, among the project partners and experts beyond the project, in order to discuss both;
o Short-term strategy, including the definition of subjects and modalities for WP3 and WP4
o Long-term strategy, in close cooperation with WP1
- To review the progress of the project, on a regular basis, in terms of the short-term strategy and give advices to WP1, WP3, WP4, WP5 and WP6; and
- To clarify the long-term strategy and define actions to be taken towards the agreed future direction.
2.3. Work Package 3 - Strengthening Participation in Nuclear Education
The objectives of the third Work Package are:
- To organise and review the participation of Master and/or PhD students and professors to selected existing courses organized by the project partners and the counterparts;
- To organize joint course(s) at Master or PhD level taking into account the recommendations from the ENEN-RU project;
- To organize joint PhD projects taking into account the recommendations from the ENENRU project;
- To promote and demonstrate the use of distance learning tools to facilitate participation to selected courses; and
- To develop a system of financial support for students by the industry.
2.4. Work Package 4 - Strengthening Participation in Nuclear Training
The objectives of the fourth Work Package are:
- To organise and review the participation of young professionals and lectureres to selected training courses organised by the project partners and the counterparts.
- To organise one or more joint training courses taking into account the recommendations from the ENEN-RU project.
- To promote and demonstrate the use of distance learning tools to facilitate participation to selected training courses.
- To develop a system of financial support for young professionals by the industry
2.5. Work Package 5 - E&T Facilities, Laboratories and Equipments
The objective of the fifth Work Package is to further develop the web based database developed in the context of the ENEN-RU project through the:
- Improvement of the functionality and usability of the database of E&T facilities, laboratories and equipment;
- Management of the database content:
o Update and extend (when possible) the already collected data;
o Collect and introduce information about additional facilities, laboratories and equipment.
2.6. Work Package 6 - Project Management and Knowledge Dissemination
The objectives of the sixth Work Package are:
- To coordinate and manage the project according to the time schedule and budget
- To produce and support the dissemination of the project results and achievements.
This Work Package deals with all administrative, legal and financial issues, with the EC and/or among the EU and Russian partners, for implementation of the project, organization and review of project meetings, production of project reports and financial reports, and the interactions with the EC for monitoring the project advancement and the distribution of the project resources and funding.
This Work Package also handles dissemination of the project results and external communications. ENEN-RU II web pages will be developed at the beginning of the project, including pages open to the public and pages with limited access only for the project partners.
Links will be made to relevant webpages, including the database developed under Work Package 4 and the pages of the previous ENEN-RU project. All deliverables and information of the project will be posted at the project website as appropriate. It will be maintained and updated by the ENEN on a regular basis during the project.
Project Results:
3. Description of main Scientific and Technical results and foregrounds
3.1. Work Package 1 - Nuclear Competence Building by Education and Training
One of the objectives of the WP1 is to promote the implementation of the Bologna process and ECTS within the National Research Nuclear University MEPhI in Russia in close relationship with the Russian regulations. This is a complex action which has required methods and tools for the common understanding among the project partners regarding the nuclear competences for BS and MS graduates in Nuclear Engineering, based on learning outcomes as defined by knowledge, skills and attitudes/competence.
Therefore one important action was to define a common basis to allow effective cooperation between the European and Russian networks for nuclear education and training, based on the actual needs expressed by EU and Russian partners, regarding:
- Preserving and further developing existing scientific schools and the high standard of research conducted at universities and research institutes
- Preventing the loss of talented young scientists to the field of science and education and training top quality research, teaching and management staff
- Concentrating intellectual and material resources on the key areas of science and technology
- Creating a system which would help to apply the potential of science and higher education in industry, mostly through innovation
- Enhancing the role of universities both in Russia as a whole and in their respective regions, in particular, as institutions responsible for developing the intellectual resources of society and for enhancing its cultural level.
The specific goal of partners was to develop general requirements for nuclear education in nuclear engineering in order to find the place (position) of Bachelor and Master graduates in nuclear corporate structure. Therefore the following actions were performed:
- The evaluation and ranking of the Nuclear Engineering programme as a tool for common and mutual recognition, and
- Identification of the general and specific competencies and the required learning outcomes, in terms of knowledge, skills and attitudes, for the graduates with a Bachelor and Master Degree in Nuclear Engineering.
Another objective of the project was to establish the nuclear competences required for BS and MS level graduates in Nuclear Engineering based on learning outcomes as defined by knowledge, skills and attitudes, and to analyze the curricula for Nuclear Engineering in EU countries and Russia. These topics are also discussed in the framework of the ENEN-RU E&T Forum, established among the project partners and experts beyond the project, in order reveal the needed short-term actions regarding the definition of subjects and modality for organizing E&T courses, as well as the long-term strategy on nuclear curricula design. This work was performed and provided in Deliverable 1.2. When evaluating the existing curricula in Nuclear Engineering, in EU and NRNU-MEPhI, the following issues were taken into consideration: „Policy, strategy, vision and mission of the educational organizations in EU countries and in Russia”, “Capacity to deliver nuclear engineering program”, “Educational Curricula”.
For the report on development of common certificate (in Deliverable 1.3) an analysis of the existing in the framework of ENEN Association European Master in Nuclear Engineering (EMSNE), done during the First ENEN-RU E&T Forum showed the agreement on both sides that the mutual recognition of the nuclear education at master level for Russian graduates could be based on a common certificate fulfilling the requirements of EMSNE, based on the graduate’s achievements regarding duration of studies, number of total and nuclear credits specialization and mobility. This way, on the basis of the Russian European Master of Science in Nuclear Engineering (REMSNE) certificate could be defined the criteria for mutual recognition of nuclear E&T. Actual situation in EU and Russia: Bologna system, credits, existing curricula, evaluation, nuclear core courses were analyzed in Deliverable 1.3.
When it comes to Learning Outcomes, Russian partners provided information about the Nuclear Engineering curricula and the corresponding course description. This information was analyzed in the project deliverables 1.1. 1.2. 1.3.:
- D.1.1- Nuclear competence building. There are presented the knowledge, skills and competences required at BSc and MSc level, and associated with them learning outcomes.
- D 1.2- Report on Nuclear Engineering Curricula. According to Systematic Approach to Training (SAT) principles there are presented the steps and actions to design, implement, analyze and accredit the Nuclear Engineering curriculum. Analysis of existing EU (3) and Russian (2) curricula showed that the same core courses are given and that all by-laws requirements are fulfilled (see.table1)
- D1.3- Report on the development of common certificate. In order to mutually recognize E&T programs, there were analyzed courses and curriculum provided by Moscow Engineering and Physics Institute (NRNU MEPhI). Both the curriculum and the course description (see Annex 2 and Annex 3) are similar to the equivalent ones from EU universities.
Following these analyses, some recommendations to QA Committee and ENEN GA were given:
• Given the NRNU-MEPhI Nuclear Engineering curriculum content and core courses description, the EU partners of the ENEN-RU II project ask the QA committee to pre-approve and the GA to approve the REMSNE by-laws.
• The quality of existing higher education in the NRNU-MEPhI is proved also by its membership to ENEN Association since 2010.
• Establishment of REMSNE will allow and strengthen the mobility of students and exchanges between EU and Russian universities.
• The participation of academic staff from both parts into the REMSNE Board and Chair, as well as the cooperation in the future evaluation processes and procedures will also encourage and strengthen the bilateral and multilateral exchanges between our universities.
At the project meeting held in Prague on December 7-9, 2016, it was decided that the REMSNE by-laws will serve as a working document for the deliverable D1.4 posted on the internal ENEN-RU II project site. On this occasion were also decided the steps to be taken in order to formally implement REMSNE in both contractual parts: in ENEN affiliated countries and in NRNU-MEPhI institutions. These steps refer to: signature of MoU between ENEN Association and NRNU-MEPhI, approval by ENEN Quality Assurance (QA) Committee of REMSNE by-laws, approval by the Board of Governors and General Assembly of the by-laws, letter to MEPhI with the decision of GA on the approval of REMSNE, establishment of the REMSNE Board composed by ENEN, MEPhI and possibly ROSATOM members. This Board will also become a continuation of the ENEN-RU Forum.
3.2. Work Package 2 - ENEN-RU E&T Forum
The ENEN RU Forum is conceived as a panel of Project partners and external experts who are called to review the progress of the project and to give instructions useful for the actions envisaged in WPs, as well as to clarify the long-term strategy and to define actions towards the agreed future direction.
The Meetings of the Forum are conveniently planned and held taking profit of relevant occasions organised by both the EU and the Russian parties: national and international events, work tours, joint sessions, international courses, exchange of best practices etc. This way the requirements regarding increased visibility and enlarged participation are easily met.
The important third ENEN-RU II Forum took place during the Project progress Meeting held in Saint Petersburg on June 27-28, 2016 at the Saint Petersburg branch of ROSATOMCICET, and together with the joint course on “The safety issues of the VVER type reactors with nuclear fuel based on reprocessed uranium”.
On that occasion, the Project partners who participated in the Meeting convened with the Russian colleagues that the Forum should attract new entities from EU and Russian Federation (outside the project partners) by inviting them to present at the Forum their preoccupations, status and perspectives. Thus, in view of new VVER projects in Hungary and Finland at the Forum were invited and participated, by delivering presentations, nuclear professionals from these countries.
Also, the Forum organized a joint action together with the “Peter the Great Saint- Petersburg” Polytechnic University (SPbPU), consisting of presentation of ENEN-RU II project as well as SPbPU’s actual status in education and research. A technical tour presenting the main research laboratories and topics opened the future possible research opportunities for cooperation. In the same framework of extending of technical contacts a Technical Tour to the full-scope simulator of KLT-40S Floating Nuclear Power Plant took place.
Discussions carried out during the Forum outlined the areas of interest in research as following:
- Engineering computer modelling of Nuclear Power Installations
- Material science
- Physics of neutrino (LAEF)
- Physics of high energy cosmic particles and muons (NEVOD) – together with
- University of Torino
- Cosmophysics (PAMELA) – together with University of Rome
- Detectors of ionizing radiations
- High energy physics (ATLAS, CMS).
These areas could be subject of joint programs developed under Grants and projects (Euratom and Horizon 2020 Work Programme 2016 – 2017), and imply joint publications, participation in conferences, exchange of internships etc.
Mutual recognition of master studies should be based on common certificate, generically named REMSNE (Russian-European Master of Nuclear Engineering certificate), which could be the existing in ENEN Association EMSNE. Also, joint master programs could be developed on the basis of bilateral agreements, similar with the MEPhI- University of Pisa agreement.
The Meeting(s) of the ENEN-RU II Forum constituted an important occasion for exchanging ideas, disseminating knowledge about the project actions and clarifying the path to be followed in the future. Participants in the meeting expressed their interest to participate in the future project ENEN-RU.
The final and fourth ENEN-RU II Forum took place during the Project Final Meeting held in Moscow on June 20-21, 2017. The Project partners who participated in the Meeting convened with the Russian colleagues that the Forum should be a part of the ATOMEXPO 2017 Event, taking advantage of substantial participation of Russian and foreign E&T professionals.
Being held together with the Project Final meeting, this fourth ENEN-RU II project Forum was particularly important for disseminating information about the goals and the outcomes of the project and for drawing attention on further cooperation and steps to be taken.
Mutual recognition of master studies should be based on common certificate, generically named REMSNE (Russian-European Master of Nuclear Engineering certificate), which could be the existing in ENEN Association EMSNE. Also, joint master programs could be developed on the basis of bilateral agreements, similar with the MEPhI- University of Pisa agreement.
The Meeting(s) of the ENEN-RU II Forum constituted an important occasion for exchanging ideas, disseminating knowledge about the project actions and clarifying the path to be followed in the future. Participants in the meeting expressed their interest to participate in the future project ENEN-RU.
3.3. Work Package 3 - Strengthening Participation in Nuclear Education
Following the findings in the previous Work Packages, several E&T courses were implemented at some of the project partners.
In the framework of the ENEN-RU II project, four (4) joint educational courses were prepared. Two (2) of them were prepared jointly with the Work package 4 – training related.
The following courses were organized:
• Joint E&T course on "Engineering aspects of Fuel Fabrication" in Obninsk, Russian Fed. on 23-27 November 2015.
• Joint Education course on the “Introduction to Nuclear safety analysis of Nuclear Reactors with state-of-art Computer Programs” by TU Munich, Germany, on 25-28 April 2017.
• Joint Education course on “Multiphysics simulation of nuclear systems” organized at the POLIMI campus in Milan, Italy, on 17-19 May 2017.
• Joint E&T course on “Simulation of different NPPs operation” organized at CTU in Prague, Czech Republic, on 30 May-2 June 2017.
One educational course was organized in Obninsk – November 2015, next one in Munich – April 2017, the following one in Milano – May 2017 and the final one in Prague – May/June 2017. Next, there were 2 periods of internships of PhD students at MEPhI in 2016 and 2017, where European students took part.
As the main objective of work package 3 of the ENEN-RU II project was to strengthen participation in nuclear education, specifically courses that were organised jointly between European and Russian partner organisations. The report summarises the joint participation of Master students, PhD students and professors in the frame of six joint training that were organised.
Out of the total number of participants to the courses we can conclude that:
- 60 European and Russian students participated to the courses;
- 4 students participated in internships;
- 2 professors participated in the courses that were organized.
The organization of the joint courses in the framework of the ENEN-RU II project was planned to be available for both – European and Russian participants. The proposed courses are suitable for exchange of students, professionals and lecturers. The initiatives for exchange are listed per partner organization.
The information was also offered to the Russian partner organizations in the project in order to make a selection of courses to be attended by Russian students and professionals. The preparedness of the courses proposal started during the ENEN-RU II meeting held in Moscow 06/2015 and continued during the meetings in Obninsk 11/2015, Brussel 05/2016, Saint Petersburg 6/2016 and Prague 12/2016
Before the implementation, the list of proposed European courses that were more oriented to education as intended in Work package 3:
• ROSATOM-CICE&T: Engineering aspects of Fuel Fabrication. Course participants: 1 IAEA, 1 CTU, 1 CV-REZ, 1 IKE, 2 CIRTEN, 1 STUBA, 1 TECNATOM, 5 UPB; ROSATOM-CICE&T Obninsk organized a one-week long training course called: “Engineering aspects of nuclear fuel manufacturing” from 23 to 27 November, 2015.
• CTU - COURSE 1: Nuclear reactor VR-1 training; Duration: 3 to 5 days; No of participants: 10;
• CTU - COURSE 2: Nuclear data libraries course; Duration: 3 to 5 days; No of participants: 10;
• CTU - COURSE 3: Simulation of different NPPs operation; Duration: 3 to 5 days; Course participants: 6 CICET; The course “Simulation of different NPPs operation” was organized by the Czech Technical University in Prague from 30th of May to 2nd of June 2017
• CTU - COURSE 4: Neutron laboratory training; Duration: 3 to 5 days; No of participants: 10;
• CIRTEN – COURSE 1: Multiphysics simulation of nuclear systems; Duration: 5 days; Timing: beginning of 2017 (e.g. March); Target public: professors, senior researchers and top-level R&D managers; Venue: Como Lake from 17th to 19th of May 2017, Italy, Course participants: 1 CTU, 14 CIRTEN, 1 UPB, 9 CICET – distance learning
• SCK•CEN – COURSE 1: Radiation protection; Date: November 21-25, 2016; Venue: SCK•CEN, Mol (Belgium); Target public: Master or PhD students, or professionals working with radioactive materials or managing nuclear activities and requiring insight in fundamental and practical aspects of radiological protection;
• SCK•CEN – INTERNSHIP: Internships at the research centre; SCK•CEN for Russian students, covering a wide range of topics;
• SCK•CEN – THESIS OPPORTUNITY: Opportunity for Bachelor and Master students to make use of SCK•CEN's expertise and facilities to prepare their thesis;
• CV REZ – STAGE: Possibility to perform stages for Russian students to conduct research in the experimental loops, in particular, Supercritical water loop, high temperature helium loop;
• TUM – COURSE 1: Course on radiation protection
• TUM – COURSE 2: Application of radioactivity in industry, research and medicine
• TUM – COURSE 3: Introduction to Nuclear Safety analysis of Nuclear reactors with system codes; Course participants: 3 CTU, 2 CIRTEN, 8 UPB; The course “Introduction to Nuclear safety analysis of Nuclear Reactors with state-of-art Computer Programs” was organized by the Technical University of Munich from 25th to 28th of April 2017.
Different options regarding the joint PhD projects were discussed during ENEN-RU II meetings. Different technical topics for exchanges were discussed. The best solution was agreed on organizing internships for PhD students where they could conduct research in the field of neutronics and thermo-hydraulics.
• First group of PhD internships were agreed to take place before the first Summer school on engineering Computer Modelling at NRNU MEPhI on 4-15 July 2016.
• Second PhD internship was carried out in May/June 2017, building on the success of the common research taken place the year before.
Guarantors of the student’s projects were professors from MEPhI. Three publications were prepared during the internships. Students from CTU (1), UPB (1), CIRTEN (1) and STUBA (2) took part in these PhD projects. Students from UPB, CIRTEN and STUBA spent about 2 months at MEPhI, student from CTU only one week (See section 4.2.)
As recognition of all the dedication, effort and passion a person manifests for bringing its contribution to the development of the nuclear field, ENEN organizes regularly rewarding events.
One of these celebration moments is represented by the ENEN PhD event, an event that started in the year 2007 and continued ever since. The purpose is to support the development of the scientific research and academic public presentation skills in the young researchers. Starting with ENEN-RU project Russian students were invited take part at this celebration.
The Russian side in the ENEN – RU II project is coordinated by the State Corporation for Atomic Energy “Rosatom” (ROSATOM). The organizations involved in the Russian side are renowned and worldwide appreciated and recognized, such as:
• State Atomic Energy Corporation (ROSATOM)
• National Research Nuclear University
o Moscow Engineering Physics Institutes (NRNU-MEPhI)
o Obninsk Technical University (NRNU-Obninsk)
• Central Institute for Continuing Education and Training (CICET)
• SSC - Research Institute for Atomic Reactors (SSC-RIAR)
• Russian Technology Transfer Network (RTTN)
• Ulyanovsk State University (ULSU).
Several students coming from these entities distinguished themselves for their qualities and work performed and were awarded PhD prizes during PhD award ceremonies:
• The 8th ENEN PhD Prize & Event took place in the framework of the 8th International Youth Congress IYNC2014, Burgos, Spain from 9 – 10 July 2014; One of the three winners was Alexander BAKAEV, SCK CEN, Belgium, coming from Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University;
• The 9th ENEN PhD Prize & Event took place in the framework of the International Congress on Advances in Nuclear Power Plants (ICAPP) 2015 in Nice, France, 5-6 May 2015; Among finalists: Petr Grigoriev, “Multi-scale modelling approach for assessment of hydrogen retention in tungsten as plasma facing material”, SCK CEN, Belgium, coming from Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University;
• The 11th ENEN PhD Prize & Event took place in the framework of the ANNETTE - PETRUS Conference 2017 in Lisbon, Portugal, on 29 - 30 June 2017. One of the finalists: Sergey Solovyev, “The Formation of Proliferation Resistant Fuel Cycle based on Reprocessed Uranium and REMIX Fuel”, ROSATOM-CICET (partner of ENEN RU II).
A possible system for sustainable financing of students was considered. Exchange of students between the European Union and the Russian Federation strengthens cooperation in the field of nuclear education between the university partners. A sustainable system for support for exchange activities would increase the sustainability of the output of this project. Key requirements for successful exchanges are:
• a transparent offer of exchange opportunities with efficient communication between the partners,
• a uniform selection process for both exchange opportunities and students and
• the possibility of bilateral agreements for mutual recognition of credits
• a strong financial foundation
The financing of exchanges could be repeated and extended in a future collaboration project between European and Russian partner organizations. Bilateral agreements are signed between European and Russian partner organizations, building on the cooperation framework that was developed and the lessons learned during the ENEN-RU and ENEN-RU II projects.
The treaty "Agreement for cooperation between the European Atomic Energy Community and the Government of the Russian Federation in the field of nuclear safety" is already in place since 2001. This bilateral agreement between EURATOM and the Russian Federation is designed to contribute to the improvement of nuclear safety by cooperation in different nuclear areas such as reactor safety research; radiation protection; nuclear waste management; decommissioning, decontamination and dismantling of nuclear installations; and research and development on accountancy and control of nuclear material. Based on this treaty, a new agreement, focusing on cooperation in the field of education and training, could be designed.
3.4. Work Package 4 - Strengthening Participation in Nuclear Training
Work package 4 of the ENEN-RU II project strives to strengthen the participation in nuclear training, amongst others by organizing one or more joint training courses and reviewing the participation of young professionals and lecturers to these training courses.
Distance learning was also identified as a possible strategy to ensure effective participation to joint training courses.
All training activities that were organized in the framework of the ENEN-RU II project are listed below.
Among the six training initiatives, two are identified as education and training activities. These two E&T activities (1 and 6) are described in this deliverable and in work package 3. Four training courses were organized in the Russian Federation, two in Europe. In total, 62 trainees participated to the joint training activities. Being Training activities:
• Engineering aspects of nuclear fuel fabrication, November 23 – 27, 2015, Held in Obninsk; Attendees: 13;
• The safety issues of VVER-type reactors with nuclear fuel based on reprocessed uranium, June 27 – July 1, 2016, Held in Saint Petersburg; Attendees: 7;
• Summer school on Engineering Computer Modelling, July 4 – 15, 2016, Held in Moscow; Attendees: 13;
• Safety culture management: methodology and practice, October 3 – 6, 2016, Held in Saint Petersburg; Attendees: 15;
• Workshop on the Systematic Approach to Training, October 10 – 14, 2016, Held in Tarragona; Attendees: 8;
• Simulation of different NPPs operation, May 29 – June 2, 2017, Held in Prague; Attendees: 6.
Participants were sent by 27 different organizations from 13 different countries, of which some are denoted with abbreviations:
1. IAEA: International Atomic Energy Agency ( Austria)
2. CTU: Czech Technical University (Czech Republic)
3. CV REZ: Research Centre Rez (Czech Republic)
4. IKE: Institut für Kernenergetik und Energiesysteme, University of Stuttgart (Germany)
5. CIRTEN: Consorzio Interuniversitario per la Ricerca Technologica Nucleare (Italy)
6. STUBA: Slovak University of Technology in Bratislava (Slovakia)
7. Tecnatom (Spain)
8. UPB: University Politehnica of Bucharest (Romania)
9. BSU: Belarusian State University (Belarus)
10. JIPNR-Sosny: Joint Institute for Power and Nuclear Research – Sosny (Belarus)
11. VNKKNU: V.N. Karazin Kharkiv National University (Ukraine)
12. MEPhI: National Research Nuclear University (Russia)
13. ROSATOM-CICE&T: ROSATOM Central Institute for Continuing Education and Training (Russia)
14. JSC VNIINM: Joint Stock Company “A.A. Bochvar High-technology Research Institute of Inorganic Materials” (Russia)
15. JSC AECC: Joint Stock Company “Angarsk Electrolysis Chemical Combine” (Russia)
16. CASE: Chell Aircraft Spares & Equipment Ltd (United Kingdom)
17. JSC TYAZHMASH: Joint Stock Company Tyazhmash (Russia)
18. FSUE: A.P. Aleksandrov Scientific Research Technological Institute (Russia)
19. JSC Diakont: Joint Stock Company Diakont (Russia)
20. WANO: World Association of Nuclear Operators (United Kingdom)
21. ROSATOM: Rosatom State Corporation (Russia)
22. SEC NRS: Scientific and Engineering Centre for Nuclear and Radiation Safety (Russia)
23. ENO: Eltel Networks Oy (Finland)
24. RAOS: RAOS Project Oy (Finland)
25. Fennovoima (Finland)
26. MVM Paks: MVM Paks II Nuclear Power Plant Development (Hungary)
27. HPL: Human Performance and Leadership Ltd. (United Kingdom)
With regards to the online learning experience organised by CIRTEN for the joint course on “Multiphysics in nuclear reactor simulation” at the campus of Politecnico di Milano from May 17 until May 19, 2017, a complete report of the course can be found in the deliverables of Work Package 3. The course was directed to a group of 17 attendees that were physically present at Politecnico di Milano and 9 attendees from the National Research Nuclear University (MEPhI, Russia) through synchronous distance learning. The 9 Russian students attended the course thanks to a Skype connection. During the afternoon of the second day, the students could apply what they learned in a simulation exercise using the COMSOL multiphysics software. Access to the software was also provided for the remotely connected students, allowing them to take part in the exercise sessions. Since the course topic was quite theoretical, it allowed for distance learning; and no laboratory visits or exercises were planned.
The training course took place on three days of lectures, exercises and presentations of research activities and was taught by three lecturers (P. Ravetto, S. Lorenzi, D. Pizzocri). Additionally, three researchers presented their activities related to multiphysics (E. Cervi, P. Bianchini, M. Jamalipour).
Two open online training courses that have been developed by partners of the ENEN-RU II project can be mentioned. A MOOC on “Understanding Nuclear Energy” was developed in the framework of the GENTLE project (Graduate and Executive Nuclear Training and Lifelong Education), which was funded by the 7 th Framework Programme for Research and Technological Development of the European Commission. SCK•CEN, CIRTEN and the University of Manchester were partners of the GENTLE project and were actively involved in the development of the MOOC. The MOOC is available through the edX platform (https://www.edx.org/course/understanding-nuclearenergy-delftx-nuclear01x-0).
The learning management system IMUSE, developed by ROSATOM-CICE&T, features an online course on “Introduction to Nuclear Power, Physics and Small Modular Reactor Technology”. This online course has been developed by prof. dr. Georgiy Toshinskiy, who is adviser to the director-general of the Joint Stock Company “SSC-RF-IPPE”. The course is conducted fully online and consists of 11 modules.
Besides the possibilities for student financing identified in Work Package 3, two more are worth specifying:
- Involvement of European stakeholders that are active in the global nuclear industry (including Russian Federation) would constitute a very strong basis for a sustainable financing system. This way, the needs of the stakeholders could be taken into account directly;
- The Horizon 2020 project ANNETTE (Advanced Networking for Nuclear Education, Training and Transfer of Expertise) aims at enhancing coordination and networking in nuclear education and training in Europe. The ANNETTE project is led by ENEN and includes 25 project partners, representing the E&T field in nuclear all over Europe. One of the outcomes of the project will be an electronic platform for information exchange including an advanced database with all E&T and VET opportunities in the relevant nuclear fields. When this database is implemented, it will be searchable worldwide, so also for interested Russian learners.
3.5. Work Package 5 - E&T Facilities, Laboratories and Equipments
The main ENEN-RU II WP5 objectives were mapping of the E&T facilities, laboratories and equipment for exchange purposes in EU and Russia, as well as clarifying access rules and procedures.
The objective to further develop the web based database developed in the context of the previous ENEN-RU project through consits of:
• Improvement of the functionality, usability and security of the database of E&T facilities, laboratories and equipment;
• Management of the database content:
o Update and extend (when possible) the already collected data;
o Collect and introduce information about additional facilities, laboratories and equipment.
• Documentation of the work
• Dissemination
The database offers the possibility of storing and accessing all this information in a structured way. Access to the first version of the database is available at https://www.enenru-db.net/ to all the ENEN-RU II project partners but can be granted following a registration process also to external users too, several database access levels being available.
The work towards achieving a functional initial version of the database has been divided into the following categories: database development, content management, documentation and finally dissemination, each having certain project partners as main responsible party under the coordination of the work package leader.
3.6. Work Package 6 - Project Management and Knowledge Dissemination
During the whole duration of the project, several coordinating meetings took place.
Present report includes the meetings that took place in the second reporting period. The second project meeting took place on 27 June 2016, at the Saint Petersburg branch of ROSATOM-CICE&T, Russian Federation. Twenty participants attended the meeting both from European side and Russian side. Status and further development for Work Packages 1,3,4,5 and 6 were discussed. As a conclusion, the main objectives of the 2nd Project Progress Meeting (according to agenda) were achieved: building a relationship of professional and technical trust for effective collaboration.
Final project meeting took place on 21 June 2017, at the ATOMEXPO 2017 conference in Moscow, Russian Federation. Additionally two previous meetings, held in December 2016 and in April2017. The meetings that preceded the final meeting were:
• Project Meeting on 8-9 December 2016, hosted by CTU in Prague
• European-side Meeting, on 3-4 April 2017, hosted by SCKCEN in Brussels.
During these meetings several topics were on debate:
• possibility of “REMSNE” certification;
• pilot courses in WP3;
• participation in training in WP4;
• Forum.
During the last project meeting, all project achievements were presented.
WP1: Nuclear Competence Building by E&T
• Curricula comparison for Nuclear Engineering in EU countries and Russian Federation
• Both credit systems are compatible: the European “Bologna process and ECTS” together
• with the Russian credit system at university level.
WP2: ENEN RU E&T Forum
• Short and long term strategy: definition of collaboration, actions, technical fields for WP3 and WP4: simulation, safety culture, SAT
• NRNU-MEPhI and Pisa University signed an agreement for exchanges, other universities follow.
• ROSATOM-CICET entered into bilateral cooperation with TECNATOM
• New participants from Finland and Hungary will join the projects
• ENEN renewed its collaboration with MEPhI and ROSATOM-CICET
WP3: Strengthening Participation in Nuclear Education
• More than 40 participants, Master and/or PhD students and professors
• 4 Joint courses (out of a total of 8) at Master and PhD level were organized
• Exchanges and stays of PhD students took place between MEPhI and UPB, STUBA and CTU
• Distance learning tools were used at the “Multiphysics simulation of nuclear systems” course organized at the POLIMI campus (CIRTEN)
• Alternatives to provide financial support for students in the future are feasible and being discussed
WP4: Strengthening Participation in Nuclear Training
• More than 30 participants, trainees and facilitators
• 4 Joint courses (out of a total of 8) at company and research environments
• Exchanges of trainees and facilitators, participation of training experts
• During the courses technical visits took place: fuel fabrication facility, training centers, etc.
WP5: E&T Facilities, Labs. and Equipment
• A web based database of E&T facilities, laboratories and equipment, for the partners, was developed in the frame of the project - www.enenru-db.net
Project dissemination was considered to be of high importance. Project’s aims and objectives and achievements were presented into conferences, online and through various scientific publications.
• Presentation in international conferences
1. VUZPROMEXPO 2014
2. ENEN Association Technical Event GA-2015
3. ATOMEXPO 2015
4. International Conference on NPP Safety and Personnel Training
5. ATOMEXPO-2017
• Online dissemination
1. ENEN Website of the project
2. E&T database website
3. ROSATOM-CICET website of the project
Potential Impact:
2.1. VUZPROMEXPO 2014
The kick off meeting of the project took place one day before the annual exhibition “VUZPROMEXPO 2014”, titled as “domestic science as the basis of industrialization”, organized under the auspices of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation, the Ministry of Economic Development of the Russian Federation and the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation. Representatives both from Russian Federation and ENEN presented the project during the plenary session of the VUZPROMEXPO exhibition (see figure 1).
The meeting represented the first step towards defining the strategy and tools to be used in dissemination activities. The importance of cooperation was underlined by all parties. Also there were appointed persons in charge with the activity, from each side, Russian and European.
Figure 1. Kick-off meeting during VUZPROMEXPO exhibition
2.2. ENEN Association Technical Event GA-2015
On 5-7 March 2015, the Aalto University (Helsinki, Finland) hosted the ENEN 13th General Assembly Meeting to summarize the ENEN activities performed in 2014 and discuss the coming ones. Among them the ENEN RU II Project received special attention since the se kick off had been held in Obninsk and Moscow in September 2014. The content and planning of the Project was presented in the joint presentation of the ENEN Secretary General Mr. Pedro Dieguez Porras and Vice-Rector of ROSATOM-CICE&T Prof. Vladimir Artisyuk. Explaining the aim of the project at identifying the common basis for cooperation between EU and Russian E&T organizations in Helsinki made sense to the audience due to the new build Hanhikivi 1 nuclear power plant, project of Fennovoima company at Pyhäjoki, Finland.
Figure 2. ENEN-RU2 project presentation during ENEN Technical Event GA-2015
For both sides it became important to share specifics of education and training in EU and Russia in order to harmonize training trajectories and programmes and use them in the most efficient way, being of particular interest for European participants the training in WWER technology.
2.3. ATOMEXPO 2015
The 1st progress meeting of the project was organised made during the renowned ATOMEXPO 2015 conference in Russian Federation, Moscow. The President and the Secretary General of ENEN had the opportunity to present ENEN and the ENEN-RU II project to a vast audience from Russian academic, research and industrial institutions.
Figure 3. ENEN-RU2 project presentation during ATOMEXPO 2015
During the ATOMEXPO , the Forum was intended to provide the audience a glimpse of the aim of the project and to give instructions useful for the actions envisaged in WPs, as well as to clarify the long-term strategy and to define actions towards the agreed future direction. Project partners and external experts were addressed to review the progress of the project and to express their ideas.
A public round table was also organised with the aim of developing a framework for discussing the opportunities offered by international cooperation in building competences in nuclear engineering for the safe operation of existing NPPs and development of new technological platforms.
Topics addressed were:
• The experience of R&D and educational cooperation in the framework of Euratom-Rosatom agreement;
• The potential of Russian research institutions in scientific and educational cooperation with ENEN universities;
• The experience of “Strengthening of cooperation and exchange for nuclear education and training between the European Union and the Russian Federation. ENEN-RU II” project;
• International cooperation in nuclear fuel cycle closure;
• International cooperation of experimental studies in small-scale power generation;
• The areas of R&D cooperation during development of R&D centres in newcomer states;
• The cases of international cooperation through development and improvement of training materials and conducting of pilot training courses.
2.4. International Conference on NPP Safety and Personnel Training
The Preliminary Project Meeting in Obninsk, Russian Federation, on 24-27 November 2015, was coordinated with the 1st ENEN RU E&T Forum meeting and the International Conference on NPP Safety and Personnel Training at the ROSATOM-CICE&T premises
The ENEN RU II project was presented at the International Conference on “Nuclear Safety and Personnel Training”, organized by MEPhI on November 25-27, 2015.
For the international Conference two extended abstracts were also submitted by:
• ENEN (in the name of the President and of the Secretary General), see Annex I.
• UPB (Prof. Petre Ghitescu), see Annex II.
These abstracts represent further dissemination actions having relevance for the ENEN-RU II project.
Figure 4. ENEN-RU II participation during the “Nuclear Safety and Personnel Training” conference
2.5. ATOMEXPO-2017
The final ENEN-RU II project meeting was one of the most important and it was held in Russian Federation, during the ATOMEXPO-2017 conference in Moscow. During the conference a round table was organized with the presence of the following project participants: Leon Cizelj (president of ENEN), Marco Ricotti (president of CIRTEN) and Vladimir Artisyuk (Vice rector of ROSATOM CICET).
Figure 5. Meeting at ATOMEXPO 2017
The representatives of ENEN and ROSATOM-CICE&T signed a Memorandum of Understanding renewing the successful cooperation between organizations. The participants reviewed the results of the ENEN-RU II project, shared their experiences and discussed the plans for further cooperation.
Figure 6. Memorandum of Understanding by ENEN and ROSATOM-CICE&T
3. Online dissemination
As important as the physical dissemination, the work of dissemination of information online is reported in this section.
3.1. ENEN Website of the project
The ENEN RU II project is reported in the website of the ENEN association in the link:
http://www.enen-assoc.org/en/training/enenru2.html
A brief introduction to the project objectives, European and Russian partners, work packages, ENEN RU Database of Infrastructures, and a detailed project timeline.
Figure 7. ENEN dedicated website to ENEN-RUII project
The timeline of the ENEN RU II Project project includes the following events
- ACTIVE LINKS INCLUDED -
• 29 and 30 September 2014: ENEN RU II Project Kick-off Meeting in Obninsk and Moscow
• 30 September 2014: Presentation of the ENEN RU II project in Vuzpromexpo Conference in Moscow
• November 2014: Reference in the EU-Russia-Year of Science Website
• 6 March 2015: Presentation of ENEN RU II project in the ENEN General Assembly in Helsinki, Finland
• 1 June 2015: 1st Progress Meeting of the ENEN RU II project in Moscow
• 2 June 2015: Setup of the E&T Forum and presentation of the ENEN RU II project in ATOMEXPO 2015, in Moscow
• 24 and 25 November 2015: ENEN RU E&T Forum Meeting in Obninsk
• 23 to 27 November 2015: Joint E&T course on "Engineering aspects of Fuel Fabrication" in Obninsk
• 25 November 2015: Presentation of ENEN RU II project in the International Conference on “Nuclear Safety and Personnel Training" in Obninsk
• 4 March 2016: Presentation of the evolution of the ENEN RU II project in the ENEN General Assembly in Geel, Belgium
• 3 May 2016: Meeting of European partners in Brussels, Belgium
• June & July 2016: PhD stage of 3 researchers during 6-7 weeks in NRNU MEPhI, Moscow
• 27 June 2016: 2nd Project Progress Meeting in Saint Petersburg
• 4-15 July 2016: Participation of 4 EU researchers in the training Summer School on Neutronics at MEPhI, in Moscow
• June 2016: ENEN RU E&T Forum meeting in Saint Petersburg
• June 2016: Joint Training course organized by ROSATOM-CICE&T: “The safety issues of VVER-type reactors with nuclear fuel based on reprocessed uranium” in Saint Petersburg
• October 2016: Joint Training course on "Safety Culture Management: Methodology and Practice" in Saint Petersburg
• October 2016: Joint Training course on "Systematic Approach to Training Methodology" organized by Tecnatom in Tarragona
• 8-9 December 2016: 3rd Project Progress Meeting of ENEN-RU II in Prague
• 3 March 2017: Presentation of the evolution of the ENEN RU II project in the ENEN General Assembly in Manchester, United Kingdom
• 25-28 April 2017: Joint Education course on the “Introduction to Nuclear safety analysis of Nuclear Reactors with state-of-art Computer Programs” by TU Munich, Germany
• 3-4 May 2017: Meeting of European partners in Brussels, Belgium.
• May 2017: Stage of an EU PhD researcher at NRNU MEPhI in Moscow
• 17-19 May 2017: Joint Education course on “Multiphysics simulation of nuclear systems” organized at the POLIMI campus in Milan, Italy
• 30 May-2 June 2017: Joint E&T course on “Simulation of different NPPs operation” organized at CTU in Prague, Czech Republic
• 20 June 2017: ENEN RU E&T Forum Meeting in ATOMEXPO 2017, in Moscow
• 21 June 2017: Final ENEN RU II Project Meeting in ATOMEXPO 2017, in Moscow
3.2. E&T database website
One of the results of the fifth work package of the first ENEN-RU project has been the development of a database to store the data collected the E&T facilities, laboratories and equipment for exchange purposes. An initial version has been created in Microsoft access in order to establish and test the structure of the database. This has been then further developed and implemented in a web based database which is available at http://www.enenru-db.net/ .
Access to the database is restricted at the moment to the ENEN-RU project partners but can be granted following a registration process also to external users too, several database access levels being available. The map of the database is also linked and visible from the other project websites.
Figure 8. ENEN-RU II data base website
3.3. ROSATOM-CICET website of the project
As a result of the cooperation, ROSATOM dedicated a part their website to dissemination of project result. In this side of the website, all activities performed in the framework of ENEN-RU II project, were presented. The website can be accessed by following the link below:
http://rosatomtech.com/category/cooperation-under-enen-ru-projects/
Figure 9. ROSATOM-CICET website
4. Scientific publications
4.1. Articles
The following scientific articles were produced by researchers and students as a result of the work and exchanges organised in the project:
• “Specifications for a coupled neutronics thermal-hydraulics SFR test case” A. Tassone, A. D. Smirnov and G. V. Tikhomirov, Journal of Physics: Conference Series, Volume 781, Number 1, Institute of Physics Publishing, United Kingdom, 2017.
• “Test case specifications for coupled neutronics-thermal hydraulics calculation of Gas-cooled Fast Reactor”, F. Osuský, R. Bahdanovich, G. Farkas, J. Haščík, G. V. Tikhomirov. Journal of Physics: Conference Series, Vol. 781, Institute of Physics Publishing, United Kingdom, 2017.
• “Test problem for thermal-hydraulics and neutronic coupled calculation fore ALFREAD reactor core”, A. Filip, G Darie, I. S. Saldikov , A. D. Smirnov, G. V. Tikhomirov, Journal of Physics: Conference Series, Vol. 781, Institute of Physics Publishing, United Kingdom, 2017.
4.2. Extended abstracts
The following extended abstracts were presented by ENEN and UPB representatives at the International Conference on NPP Safety and Personnel Training Obninsk, Russian Federation, on 24-27 November 2015:
• “The ENEN-RU II Project in the frame of the actions of ENEN aimed at promoting mutual recognition in E&T”, by Walter AMBROSINI and Pedro DIEGUEZ PORRAS.
• “ENEN-RU Project on Evaluation of Nuclear Engineering Curricula”, by Petre GHITESCU.
5. Conclusion
The main objectives of the dissemination plan were:
• participation in relevant scientific events;
• development of an institutional database with help of project partners from European and Russian sides;
• dedicated websites both from European and Russian side.
All these objectives were met. There were participation to 5 important scientific events; three dedicated websites were created (one from Russian side and one from European side, and the database); three publications and two dedicated papers were presented.
List of Websites:
Website of the EU side of the project in the page of the ENEN Association:
http://www.enen.eu/en/projects/enenru2.html
Website of the Russian side of the project in the page of Rosatom CICET:
http://rosatomtech.com/category/cooperation-under-enen-ru-projects/
The ENEN RU II project is titled "Strengthening of Cooperation and Exchange for Nuclear Education and Training between the European Union and the Russian Federation"; consisting of two parallel projects on the EU side and the Russian side. The objectives of the entire project have been:
• to further define a common basis for effective cooperation between the European and Russian networks for nuclear Education &Training (E&T);
• to define an implementation plan based on the needs of cooperation in the long-term;
• to solve the difficulties for cooperation found during the ENEN-RU project;
• to implement a collaboration plan in a sustainable manner;
• to operate the knowledge management framework; and
• to list up and promote further use of E&T facilities, laboratories and equipment.
The ENEN-RU II project (www.enen.eu/en/projects/enenru2.html) has achieved to develop a sustainable framework of cooperation between the EU and the Russian Federation (Rosatom-cicet.ru/category/cooperation-under-enen-ru-projects) in terms of Nuclear Education and Training. The achieved results provided:
• Mechanisms of short-term and long-term manner of cooperation have been established through a permanent E&T Forum reinforced by several bilateral collaboration agreements among the participants and an online database of infrastructure’s and E&T facilities (enenru-db.net).
• Opportunities for cooperation have been identified and launched based on the joint collaboration at Master level (through university exchange agreements and joint courses), PhD level (joint research lines based on established doctorate stages) and joint training programs for young professionals.
• Implementation of seven jointly organized technical courses on: Engineering aspects of Fuel Fabrication, Safety issues of VVER-type reactors with nuclear fuel based on reprocessed uranium, Nuclear Safety Culture methodology and practice, Systematic Approach to Training methodology, Introduction to Nuclear safety analysis of Nuclear Reactors with state-of-art Computer Programs, Multiphysics simulation of nuclear systems, Simulation of different NPPs operation; reaching more than 60 participants.
• Organization of four Forum meetings, 4 PhD stages and 1 Summer School on Engineering Computer Modelling.
The project was facilitated agreements of mutual recognition of the E &T programmes on both sides leading to the expansion of the exchanges. The results offer to nuclear research and industry a future broader basis of human resources and foster cooperation in nuclear power development.
Project Context and Objectives:
2.1. Work Package 1 - Nuclear Competence Building by Education and Training
The objectives of the first Work Package are:
- To promote the implementation of the Bologna process and ECTS within the National Research Nuclear University in Russia in close relationship with the Russian regulations;
- To establish the nuclear competences required for BS and MS level graduates in Nuclear Engineering based on learning outcomes as defined by knowledge, skills and attitudes;
- To analyze the curricula for Nuclear Engineering in EU countries and Russia;.
- To investigate the opportunity of professional E&T passport based on ECVET for Russian professionals; and
- To define, on this basis, the criteria for mutual recognition of nuclear E&T.
2.2. Work Package 2 - ENEN-RU E&T Forum
The objectives of the second Work Package are:
- To establish the ENEN-RU E&T Forum, among the project partners and experts beyond the project, in order to discuss both;
o Short-term strategy, including the definition of subjects and modalities for WP3 and WP4
o Long-term strategy, in close cooperation with WP1
- To review the progress of the project, on a regular basis, in terms of the short-term strategy and give advices to WP1, WP3, WP4, WP5 and WP6; and
- To clarify the long-term strategy and define actions to be taken towards the agreed future direction.
2.3. Work Package 3 - Strengthening Participation in Nuclear Education
The objectives of the third Work Package are:
- To organise and review the participation of Master and/or PhD students and professors to selected existing courses organized by the project partners and the counterparts;
- To organize joint course(s) at Master or PhD level taking into account the recommendations from the ENEN-RU project;
- To organize joint PhD projects taking into account the recommendations from the ENENRU project;
- To promote and demonstrate the use of distance learning tools to facilitate participation to selected courses; and
- To develop a system of financial support for students by the industry.
2.4. Work Package 4 - Strengthening Participation in Nuclear Training
The objectives of the fourth Work Package are:
- To organise and review the participation of young professionals and lectureres to selected training courses organised by the project partners and the counterparts.
- To organise one or more joint training courses taking into account the recommendations from the ENEN-RU project.
- To promote and demonstrate the use of distance learning tools to facilitate participation to selected training courses.
- To develop a system of financial support for young professionals by the industry
2.5. Work Package 5 - E&T Facilities, Laboratories and Equipments
The objective of the fifth Work Package is to further develop the web based database developed in the context of the ENEN-RU project through the:
- Improvement of the functionality and usability of the database of E&T facilities, laboratories and equipment;
- Management of the database content:
o Update and extend (when possible) the already collected data;
o Collect and introduce information about additional facilities, laboratories and equipment.
2.6. Work Package 6 - Project Management and Knowledge Dissemination
The objectives of the sixth Work Package are:
- To coordinate and manage the project according to the time schedule and budget
- To produce and support the dissemination of the project results and achievements.
This Work Package deals with all administrative, legal and financial issues, with the EC and/or among the EU and Russian partners, for implementation of the project, organization and review of project meetings, production of project reports and financial reports, and the interactions with the EC for monitoring the project advancement and the distribution of the project resources and funding.
This Work Package also handles dissemination of the project results and external communications. ENEN-RU II web pages will be developed at the beginning of the project, including pages open to the public and pages with limited access only for the project partners.
Links will be made to relevant webpages, including the database developed under Work Package 4 and the pages of the previous ENEN-RU project. All deliverables and information of the project will be posted at the project website as appropriate. It will be maintained and updated by the ENEN on a regular basis during the project.
Project Results:
3. Description of main Scientific and Technical results and foregrounds
3.1. Work Package 1 - Nuclear Competence Building by Education and Training
One of the objectives of the WP1 is to promote the implementation of the Bologna process and ECTS within the National Research Nuclear University MEPhI in Russia in close relationship with the Russian regulations. This is a complex action which has required methods and tools for the common understanding among the project partners regarding the nuclear competences for BS and MS graduates in Nuclear Engineering, based on learning outcomes as defined by knowledge, skills and attitudes/competence.
Therefore one important action was to define a common basis to allow effective cooperation between the European and Russian networks for nuclear education and training, based on the actual needs expressed by EU and Russian partners, regarding:
- Preserving and further developing existing scientific schools and the high standard of research conducted at universities and research institutes
- Preventing the loss of talented young scientists to the field of science and education and training top quality research, teaching and management staff
- Concentrating intellectual and material resources on the key areas of science and technology
- Creating a system which would help to apply the potential of science and higher education in industry, mostly through innovation
- Enhancing the role of universities both in Russia as a whole and in their respective regions, in particular, as institutions responsible for developing the intellectual resources of society and for enhancing its cultural level.
The specific goal of partners was to develop general requirements for nuclear education in nuclear engineering in order to find the place (position) of Bachelor and Master graduates in nuclear corporate structure. Therefore the following actions were performed:
- The evaluation and ranking of the Nuclear Engineering programme as a tool for common and mutual recognition, and
- Identification of the general and specific competencies and the required learning outcomes, in terms of knowledge, skills and attitudes, for the graduates with a Bachelor and Master Degree in Nuclear Engineering.
Another objective of the project was to establish the nuclear competences required for BS and MS level graduates in Nuclear Engineering based on learning outcomes as defined by knowledge, skills and attitudes, and to analyze the curricula for Nuclear Engineering in EU countries and Russia. These topics are also discussed in the framework of the ENEN-RU E&T Forum, established among the project partners and experts beyond the project, in order reveal the needed short-term actions regarding the definition of subjects and modality for organizing E&T courses, as well as the long-term strategy on nuclear curricula design. This work was performed and provided in Deliverable 1.2. When evaluating the existing curricula in Nuclear Engineering, in EU and NRNU-MEPhI, the following issues were taken into consideration: „Policy, strategy, vision and mission of the educational organizations in EU countries and in Russia”, “Capacity to deliver nuclear engineering program”, “Educational Curricula”.
For the report on development of common certificate (in Deliverable 1.3) an analysis of the existing in the framework of ENEN Association European Master in Nuclear Engineering (EMSNE), done during the First ENEN-RU E&T Forum showed the agreement on both sides that the mutual recognition of the nuclear education at master level for Russian graduates could be based on a common certificate fulfilling the requirements of EMSNE, based on the graduate’s achievements regarding duration of studies, number of total and nuclear credits specialization and mobility. This way, on the basis of the Russian European Master of Science in Nuclear Engineering (REMSNE) certificate could be defined the criteria for mutual recognition of nuclear E&T. Actual situation in EU and Russia: Bologna system, credits, existing curricula, evaluation, nuclear core courses were analyzed in Deliverable 1.3.
When it comes to Learning Outcomes, Russian partners provided information about the Nuclear Engineering curricula and the corresponding course description. This information was analyzed in the project deliverables 1.1. 1.2. 1.3.:
- D.1.1- Nuclear competence building. There are presented the knowledge, skills and competences required at BSc and MSc level, and associated with them learning outcomes.
- D 1.2- Report on Nuclear Engineering Curricula. According to Systematic Approach to Training (SAT) principles there are presented the steps and actions to design, implement, analyze and accredit the Nuclear Engineering curriculum. Analysis of existing EU (3) and Russian (2) curricula showed that the same core courses are given and that all by-laws requirements are fulfilled (see.table1)
- D1.3- Report on the development of common certificate. In order to mutually recognize E&T programs, there were analyzed courses and curriculum provided by Moscow Engineering and Physics Institute (NRNU MEPhI). Both the curriculum and the course description (see Annex 2 and Annex 3) are similar to the equivalent ones from EU universities.
Following these analyses, some recommendations to QA Committee and ENEN GA were given:
• Given the NRNU-MEPhI Nuclear Engineering curriculum content and core courses description, the EU partners of the ENEN-RU II project ask the QA committee to pre-approve and the GA to approve the REMSNE by-laws.
• The quality of existing higher education in the NRNU-MEPhI is proved also by its membership to ENEN Association since 2010.
• Establishment of REMSNE will allow and strengthen the mobility of students and exchanges between EU and Russian universities.
• The participation of academic staff from both parts into the REMSNE Board and Chair, as well as the cooperation in the future evaluation processes and procedures will also encourage and strengthen the bilateral and multilateral exchanges between our universities.
At the project meeting held in Prague on December 7-9, 2016, it was decided that the REMSNE by-laws will serve as a working document for the deliverable D1.4 posted on the internal ENEN-RU II project site. On this occasion were also decided the steps to be taken in order to formally implement REMSNE in both contractual parts: in ENEN affiliated countries and in NRNU-MEPhI institutions. These steps refer to: signature of MoU between ENEN Association and NRNU-MEPhI, approval by ENEN Quality Assurance (QA) Committee of REMSNE by-laws, approval by the Board of Governors and General Assembly of the by-laws, letter to MEPhI with the decision of GA on the approval of REMSNE, establishment of the REMSNE Board composed by ENEN, MEPhI and possibly ROSATOM members. This Board will also become a continuation of the ENEN-RU Forum.
3.2. Work Package 2 - ENEN-RU E&T Forum
The ENEN RU Forum is conceived as a panel of Project partners and external experts who are called to review the progress of the project and to give instructions useful for the actions envisaged in WPs, as well as to clarify the long-term strategy and to define actions towards the agreed future direction.
The Meetings of the Forum are conveniently planned and held taking profit of relevant occasions organised by both the EU and the Russian parties: national and international events, work tours, joint sessions, international courses, exchange of best practices etc. This way the requirements regarding increased visibility and enlarged participation are easily met.
The important third ENEN-RU II Forum took place during the Project progress Meeting held in Saint Petersburg on June 27-28, 2016 at the Saint Petersburg branch of ROSATOMCICET, and together with the joint course on “The safety issues of the VVER type reactors with nuclear fuel based on reprocessed uranium”.
On that occasion, the Project partners who participated in the Meeting convened with the Russian colleagues that the Forum should attract new entities from EU and Russian Federation (outside the project partners) by inviting them to present at the Forum their preoccupations, status and perspectives. Thus, in view of new VVER projects in Hungary and Finland at the Forum were invited and participated, by delivering presentations, nuclear professionals from these countries.
Also, the Forum organized a joint action together with the “Peter the Great Saint- Petersburg” Polytechnic University (SPbPU), consisting of presentation of ENEN-RU II project as well as SPbPU’s actual status in education and research. A technical tour presenting the main research laboratories and topics opened the future possible research opportunities for cooperation. In the same framework of extending of technical contacts a Technical Tour to the full-scope simulator of KLT-40S Floating Nuclear Power Plant took place.
Discussions carried out during the Forum outlined the areas of interest in research as following:
- Engineering computer modelling of Nuclear Power Installations
- Material science
- Physics of neutrino (LAEF)
- Physics of high energy cosmic particles and muons (NEVOD) – together with
- University of Torino
- Cosmophysics (PAMELA) – together with University of Rome
- Detectors of ionizing radiations
- High energy physics (ATLAS, CMS).
These areas could be subject of joint programs developed under Grants and projects (Euratom and Horizon 2020 Work Programme 2016 – 2017), and imply joint publications, participation in conferences, exchange of internships etc.
Mutual recognition of master studies should be based on common certificate, generically named REMSNE (Russian-European Master of Nuclear Engineering certificate), which could be the existing in ENEN Association EMSNE. Also, joint master programs could be developed on the basis of bilateral agreements, similar with the MEPhI- University of Pisa agreement.
The Meeting(s) of the ENEN-RU II Forum constituted an important occasion for exchanging ideas, disseminating knowledge about the project actions and clarifying the path to be followed in the future. Participants in the meeting expressed their interest to participate in the future project ENEN-RU.
The final and fourth ENEN-RU II Forum took place during the Project Final Meeting held in Moscow on June 20-21, 2017. The Project partners who participated in the Meeting convened with the Russian colleagues that the Forum should be a part of the ATOMEXPO 2017 Event, taking advantage of substantial participation of Russian and foreign E&T professionals.
Being held together with the Project Final meeting, this fourth ENEN-RU II project Forum was particularly important for disseminating information about the goals and the outcomes of the project and for drawing attention on further cooperation and steps to be taken.
Mutual recognition of master studies should be based on common certificate, generically named REMSNE (Russian-European Master of Nuclear Engineering certificate), which could be the existing in ENEN Association EMSNE. Also, joint master programs could be developed on the basis of bilateral agreements, similar with the MEPhI- University of Pisa agreement.
The Meeting(s) of the ENEN-RU II Forum constituted an important occasion for exchanging ideas, disseminating knowledge about the project actions and clarifying the path to be followed in the future. Participants in the meeting expressed their interest to participate in the future project ENEN-RU.
3.3. Work Package 3 - Strengthening Participation in Nuclear Education
Following the findings in the previous Work Packages, several E&T courses were implemented at some of the project partners.
In the framework of the ENEN-RU II project, four (4) joint educational courses were prepared. Two (2) of them were prepared jointly with the Work package 4 – training related.
The following courses were organized:
• Joint E&T course on "Engineering aspects of Fuel Fabrication" in Obninsk, Russian Fed. on 23-27 November 2015.
• Joint Education course on the “Introduction to Nuclear safety analysis of Nuclear Reactors with state-of-art Computer Programs” by TU Munich, Germany, on 25-28 April 2017.
• Joint Education course on “Multiphysics simulation of nuclear systems” organized at the POLIMI campus in Milan, Italy, on 17-19 May 2017.
• Joint E&T course on “Simulation of different NPPs operation” organized at CTU in Prague, Czech Republic, on 30 May-2 June 2017.
One educational course was organized in Obninsk – November 2015, next one in Munich – April 2017, the following one in Milano – May 2017 and the final one in Prague – May/June 2017. Next, there were 2 periods of internships of PhD students at MEPhI in 2016 and 2017, where European students took part.
As the main objective of work package 3 of the ENEN-RU II project was to strengthen participation in nuclear education, specifically courses that were organised jointly between European and Russian partner organisations. The report summarises the joint participation of Master students, PhD students and professors in the frame of six joint training that were organised.
Out of the total number of participants to the courses we can conclude that:
- 60 European and Russian students participated to the courses;
- 4 students participated in internships;
- 2 professors participated in the courses that were organized.
The organization of the joint courses in the framework of the ENEN-RU II project was planned to be available for both – European and Russian participants. The proposed courses are suitable for exchange of students, professionals and lecturers. The initiatives for exchange are listed per partner organization.
The information was also offered to the Russian partner organizations in the project in order to make a selection of courses to be attended by Russian students and professionals. The preparedness of the courses proposal started during the ENEN-RU II meeting held in Moscow 06/2015 and continued during the meetings in Obninsk 11/2015, Brussel 05/2016, Saint Petersburg 6/2016 and Prague 12/2016
Before the implementation, the list of proposed European courses that were more oriented to education as intended in Work package 3:
• ROSATOM-CICE&T: Engineering aspects of Fuel Fabrication. Course participants: 1 IAEA, 1 CTU, 1 CV-REZ, 1 IKE, 2 CIRTEN, 1 STUBA, 1 TECNATOM, 5 UPB; ROSATOM-CICE&T Obninsk organized a one-week long training course called: “Engineering aspects of nuclear fuel manufacturing” from 23 to 27 November, 2015.
• CTU - COURSE 1: Nuclear reactor VR-1 training; Duration: 3 to 5 days; No of participants: 10;
• CTU - COURSE 2: Nuclear data libraries course; Duration: 3 to 5 days; No of participants: 10;
• CTU - COURSE 3: Simulation of different NPPs operation; Duration: 3 to 5 days; Course participants: 6 CICET; The course “Simulation of different NPPs operation” was organized by the Czech Technical University in Prague from 30th of May to 2nd of June 2017
• CTU - COURSE 4: Neutron laboratory training; Duration: 3 to 5 days; No of participants: 10;
• CIRTEN – COURSE 1: Multiphysics simulation of nuclear systems; Duration: 5 days; Timing: beginning of 2017 (e.g. March); Target public: professors, senior researchers and top-level R&D managers; Venue: Como Lake from 17th to 19th of May 2017, Italy, Course participants: 1 CTU, 14 CIRTEN, 1 UPB, 9 CICET – distance learning
• SCK•CEN – COURSE 1: Radiation protection; Date: November 21-25, 2016; Venue: SCK•CEN, Mol (Belgium); Target public: Master or PhD students, or professionals working with radioactive materials or managing nuclear activities and requiring insight in fundamental and practical aspects of radiological protection;
• SCK•CEN – INTERNSHIP: Internships at the research centre; SCK•CEN for Russian students, covering a wide range of topics;
• SCK•CEN – THESIS OPPORTUNITY: Opportunity for Bachelor and Master students to make use of SCK•CEN's expertise and facilities to prepare their thesis;
• CV REZ – STAGE: Possibility to perform stages for Russian students to conduct research in the experimental loops, in particular, Supercritical water loop, high temperature helium loop;
• TUM – COURSE 1: Course on radiation protection
• TUM – COURSE 2: Application of radioactivity in industry, research and medicine
• TUM – COURSE 3: Introduction to Nuclear Safety analysis of Nuclear reactors with system codes; Course participants: 3 CTU, 2 CIRTEN, 8 UPB; The course “Introduction to Nuclear safety analysis of Nuclear Reactors with state-of-art Computer Programs” was organized by the Technical University of Munich from 25th to 28th of April 2017.
Different options regarding the joint PhD projects were discussed during ENEN-RU II meetings. Different technical topics for exchanges were discussed. The best solution was agreed on organizing internships for PhD students where they could conduct research in the field of neutronics and thermo-hydraulics.
• First group of PhD internships were agreed to take place before the first Summer school on engineering Computer Modelling at NRNU MEPhI on 4-15 July 2016.
• Second PhD internship was carried out in May/June 2017, building on the success of the common research taken place the year before.
Guarantors of the student’s projects were professors from MEPhI. Three publications were prepared during the internships. Students from CTU (1), UPB (1), CIRTEN (1) and STUBA (2) took part in these PhD projects. Students from UPB, CIRTEN and STUBA spent about 2 months at MEPhI, student from CTU only one week (See section 4.2.)
As recognition of all the dedication, effort and passion a person manifests for bringing its contribution to the development of the nuclear field, ENEN organizes regularly rewarding events.
One of these celebration moments is represented by the ENEN PhD event, an event that started in the year 2007 and continued ever since. The purpose is to support the development of the scientific research and academic public presentation skills in the young researchers. Starting with ENEN-RU project Russian students were invited take part at this celebration.
The Russian side in the ENEN – RU II project is coordinated by the State Corporation for Atomic Energy “Rosatom” (ROSATOM). The organizations involved in the Russian side are renowned and worldwide appreciated and recognized, such as:
• State Atomic Energy Corporation (ROSATOM)
• National Research Nuclear University
o Moscow Engineering Physics Institutes (NRNU-MEPhI)
o Obninsk Technical University (NRNU-Obninsk)
• Central Institute for Continuing Education and Training (CICET)
• SSC - Research Institute for Atomic Reactors (SSC-RIAR)
• Russian Technology Transfer Network (RTTN)
• Ulyanovsk State University (ULSU).
Several students coming from these entities distinguished themselves for their qualities and work performed and were awarded PhD prizes during PhD award ceremonies:
• The 8th ENEN PhD Prize & Event took place in the framework of the 8th International Youth Congress IYNC2014, Burgos, Spain from 9 – 10 July 2014; One of the three winners was Alexander BAKAEV, SCK CEN, Belgium, coming from Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University;
• The 9th ENEN PhD Prize & Event took place in the framework of the International Congress on Advances in Nuclear Power Plants (ICAPP) 2015 in Nice, France, 5-6 May 2015; Among finalists: Petr Grigoriev, “Multi-scale modelling approach for assessment of hydrogen retention in tungsten as plasma facing material”, SCK CEN, Belgium, coming from Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University;
• The 11th ENEN PhD Prize & Event took place in the framework of the ANNETTE - PETRUS Conference 2017 in Lisbon, Portugal, on 29 - 30 June 2017. One of the finalists: Sergey Solovyev, “The Formation of Proliferation Resistant Fuel Cycle based on Reprocessed Uranium and REMIX Fuel”, ROSATOM-CICET (partner of ENEN RU II).
A possible system for sustainable financing of students was considered. Exchange of students between the European Union and the Russian Federation strengthens cooperation in the field of nuclear education between the university partners. A sustainable system for support for exchange activities would increase the sustainability of the output of this project. Key requirements for successful exchanges are:
• a transparent offer of exchange opportunities with efficient communication between the partners,
• a uniform selection process for both exchange opportunities and students and
• the possibility of bilateral agreements for mutual recognition of credits
• a strong financial foundation
The financing of exchanges could be repeated and extended in a future collaboration project between European and Russian partner organizations. Bilateral agreements are signed between European and Russian partner organizations, building on the cooperation framework that was developed and the lessons learned during the ENEN-RU and ENEN-RU II projects.
The treaty "Agreement for cooperation between the European Atomic Energy Community and the Government of the Russian Federation in the field of nuclear safety" is already in place since 2001. This bilateral agreement between EURATOM and the Russian Federation is designed to contribute to the improvement of nuclear safety by cooperation in different nuclear areas such as reactor safety research; radiation protection; nuclear waste management; decommissioning, decontamination and dismantling of nuclear installations; and research and development on accountancy and control of nuclear material. Based on this treaty, a new agreement, focusing on cooperation in the field of education and training, could be designed.
3.4. Work Package 4 - Strengthening Participation in Nuclear Training
Work package 4 of the ENEN-RU II project strives to strengthen the participation in nuclear training, amongst others by organizing one or more joint training courses and reviewing the participation of young professionals and lecturers to these training courses.
Distance learning was also identified as a possible strategy to ensure effective participation to joint training courses.
All training activities that were organized in the framework of the ENEN-RU II project are listed below.
Among the six training initiatives, two are identified as education and training activities. These two E&T activities (1 and 6) are described in this deliverable and in work package 3. Four training courses were organized in the Russian Federation, two in Europe. In total, 62 trainees participated to the joint training activities. Being Training activities:
• Engineering aspects of nuclear fuel fabrication, November 23 – 27, 2015, Held in Obninsk; Attendees: 13;
• The safety issues of VVER-type reactors with nuclear fuel based on reprocessed uranium, June 27 – July 1, 2016, Held in Saint Petersburg; Attendees: 7;
• Summer school on Engineering Computer Modelling, July 4 – 15, 2016, Held in Moscow; Attendees: 13;
• Safety culture management: methodology and practice, October 3 – 6, 2016, Held in Saint Petersburg; Attendees: 15;
• Workshop on the Systematic Approach to Training, October 10 – 14, 2016, Held in Tarragona; Attendees: 8;
• Simulation of different NPPs operation, May 29 – June 2, 2017, Held in Prague; Attendees: 6.
Participants were sent by 27 different organizations from 13 different countries, of which some are denoted with abbreviations:
1. IAEA: International Atomic Energy Agency ( Austria)
2. CTU: Czech Technical University (Czech Republic)
3. CV REZ: Research Centre Rez (Czech Republic)
4. IKE: Institut für Kernenergetik und Energiesysteme, University of Stuttgart (Germany)
5. CIRTEN: Consorzio Interuniversitario per la Ricerca Technologica Nucleare (Italy)
6. STUBA: Slovak University of Technology in Bratislava (Slovakia)
7. Tecnatom (Spain)
8. UPB: University Politehnica of Bucharest (Romania)
9. BSU: Belarusian State University (Belarus)
10. JIPNR-Sosny: Joint Institute for Power and Nuclear Research – Sosny (Belarus)
11. VNKKNU: V.N. Karazin Kharkiv National University (Ukraine)
12. MEPhI: National Research Nuclear University (Russia)
13. ROSATOM-CICE&T: ROSATOM Central Institute for Continuing Education and Training (Russia)
14. JSC VNIINM: Joint Stock Company “A.A. Bochvar High-technology Research Institute of Inorganic Materials” (Russia)
15. JSC AECC: Joint Stock Company “Angarsk Electrolysis Chemical Combine” (Russia)
16. CASE: Chell Aircraft Spares & Equipment Ltd (United Kingdom)
17. JSC TYAZHMASH: Joint Stock Company Tyazhmash (Russia)
18. FSUE: A.P. Aleksandrov Scientific Research Technological Institute (Russia)
19. JSC Diakont: Joint Stock Company Diakont (Russia)
20. WANO: World Association of Nuclear Operators (United Kingdom)
21. ROSATOM: Rosatom State Corporation (Russia)
22. SEC NRS: Scientific and Engineering Centre for Nuclear and Radiation Safety (Russia)
23. ENO: Eltel Networks Oy (Finland)
24. RAOS: RAOS Project Oy (Finland)
25. Fennovoima (Finland)
26. MVM Paks: MVM Paks II Nuclear Power Plant Development (Hungary)
27. HPL: Human Performance and Leadership Ltd. (United Kingdom)
With regards to the online learning experience organised by CIRTEN for the joint course on “Multiphysics in nuclear reactor simulation” at the campus of Politecnico di Milano from May 17 until May 19, 2017, a complete report of the course can be found in the deliverables of Work Package 3. The course was directed to a group of 17 attendees that were physically present at Politecnico di Milano and 9 attendees from the National Research Nuclear University (MEPhI, Russia) through synchronous distance learning. The 9 Russian students attended the course thanks to a Skype connection. During the afternoon of the second day, the students could apply what they learned in a simulation exercise using the COMSOL multiphysics software. Access to the software was also provided for the remotely connected students, allowing them to take part in the exercise sessions. Since the course topic was quite theoretical, it allowed for distance learning; and no laboratory visits or exercises were planned.
The training course took place on three days of lectures, exercises and presentations of research activities and was taught by three lecturers (P. Ravetto, S. Lorenzi, D. Pizzocri). Additionally, three researchers presented their activities related to multiphysics (E. Cervi, P. Bianchini, M. Jamalipour).
Two open online training courses that have been developed by partners of the ENEN-RU II project can be mentioned. A MOOC on “Understanding Nuclear Energy” was developed in the framework of the GENTLE project (Graduate and Executive Nuclear Training and Lifelong Education), which was funded by the 7 th Framework Programme for Research and Technological Development of the European Commission. SCK•CEN, CIRTEN and the University of Manchester were partners of the GENTLE project and were actively involved in the development of the MOOC. The MOOC is available through the edX platform (https://www.edx.org/course/understanding-nuclearenergy-delftx-nuclear01x-0).
The learning management system IMUSE, developed by ROSATOM-CICE&T, features an online course on “Introduction to Nuclear Power, Physics and Small Modular Reactor Technology”. This online course has been developed by prof. dr. Georgiy Toshinskiy, who is adviser to the director-general of the Joint Stock Company “SSC-RF-IPPE”. The course is conducted fully online and consists of 11 modules.
Besides the possibilities for student financing identified in Work Package 3, two more are worth specifying:
- Involvement of European stakeholders that are active in the global nuclear industry (including Russian Federation) would constitute a very strong basis for a sustainable financing system. This way, the needs of the stakeholders could be taken into account directly;
- The Horizon 2020 project ANNETTE (Advanced Networking for Nuclear Education, Training and Transfer of Expertise) aims at enhancing coordination and networking in nuclear education and training in Europe. The ANNETTE project is led by ENEN and includes 25 project partners, representing the E&T field in nuclear all over Europe. One of the outcomes of the project will be an electronic platform for information exchange including an advanced database with all E&T and VET opportunities in the relevant nuclear fields. When this database is implemented, it will be searchable worldwide, so also for interested Russian learners.
3.5. Work Package 5 - E&T Facilities, Laboratories and Equipments
The main ENEN-RU II WP5 objectives were mapping of the E&T facilities, laboratories and equipment for exchange purposes in EU and Russia, as well as clarifying access rules and procedures.
The objective to further develop the web based database developed in the context of the previous ENEN-RU project through consits of:
• Improvement of the functionality, usability and security of the database of E&T facilities, laboratories and equipment;
• Management of the database content:
o Update and extend (when possible) the already collected data;
o Collect and introduce information about additional facilities, laboratories and equipment.
• Documentation of the work
• Dissemination
The database offers the possibility of storing and accessing all this information in a structured way. Access to the first version of the database is available at https://www.enenru-db.net/ to all the ENEN-RU II project partners but can be granted following a registration process also to external users too, several database access levels being available.
The work towards achieving a functional initial version of the database has been divided into the following categories: database development, content management, documentation and finally dissemination, each having certain project partners as main responsible party under the coordination of the work package leader.
3.6. Work Package 6 - Project Management and Knowledge Dissemination
During the whole duration of the project, several coordinating meetings took place.
Present report includes the meetings that took place in the second reporting period. The second project meeting took place on 27 June 2016, at the Saint Petersburg branch of ROSATOM-CICE&T, Russian Federation. Twenty participants attended the meeting both from European side and Russian side. Status and further development for Work Packages 1,3,4,5 and 6 were discussed. As a conclusion, the main objectives of the 2nd Project Progress Meeting (according to agenda) were achieved: building a relationship of professional and technical trust for effective collaboration.
Final project meeting took place on 21 June 2017, at the ATOMEXPO 2017 conference in Moscow, Russian Federation. Additionally two previous meetings, held in December 2016 and in April2017. The meetings that preceded the final meeting were:
• Project Meeting on 8-9 December 2016, hosted by CTU in Prague
• European-side Meeting, on 3-4 April 2017, hosted by SCKCEN in Brussels.
During these meetings several topics were on debate:
• possibility of “REMSNE” certification;
• pilot courses in WP3;
• participation in training in WP4;
• Forum.
During the last project meeting, all project achievements were presented.
WP1: Nuclear Competence Building by E&T
• Curricula comparison for Nuclear Engineering in EU countries and Russian Federation
• Both credit systems are compatible: the European “Bologna process and ECTS” together
• with the Russian credit system at university level.
WP2: ENEN RU E&T Forum
• Short and long term strategy: definition of collaboration, actions, technical fields for WP3 and WP4: simulation, safety culture, SAT
• NRNU-MEPhI and Pisa University signed an agreement for exchanges, other universities follow.
• ROSATOM-CICET entered into bilateral cooperation with TECNATOM
• New participants from Finland and Hungary will join the projects
• ENEN renewed its collaboration with MEPhI and ROSATOM-CICET
WP3: Strengthening Participation in Nuclear Education
• More than 40 participants, Master and/or PhD students and professors
• 4 Joint courses (out of a total of 8) at Master and PhD level were organized
• Exchanges and stays of PhD students took place between MEPhI and UPB, STUBA and CTU
• Distance learning tools were used at the “Multiphysics simulation of nuclear systems” course organized at the POLIMI campus (CIRTEN)
• Alternatives to provide financial support for students in the future are feasible and being discussed
WP4: Strengthening Participation in Nuclear Training
• More than 30 participants, trainees and facilitators
• 4 Joint courses (out of a total of 8) at company and research environments
• Exchanges of trainees and facilitators, participation of training experts
• During the courses technical visits took place: fuel fabrication facility, training centers, etc.
WP5: E&T Facilities, Labs. and Equipment
• A web based database of E&T facilities, laboratories and equipment, for the partners, was developed in the frame of the project - www.enenru-db.net
Project dissemination was considered to be of high importance. Project’s aims and objectives and achievements were presented into conferences, online and through various scientific publications.
• Presentation in international conferences
1. VUZPROMEXPO 2014
2. ENEN Association Technical Event GA-2015
3. ATOMEXPO 2015
4. International Conference on NPP Safety and Personnel Training
5. ATOMEXPO-2017
• Online dissemination
1. ENEN Website of the project
2. E&T database website
3. ROSATOM-CICET website of the project
Potential Impact:
2.1. VUZPROMEXPO 2014
The kick off meeting of the project took place one day before the annual exhibition “VUZPROMEXPO 2014”, titled as “domestic science as the basis of industrialization”, organized under the auspices of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation, the Ministry of Economic Development of the Russian Federation and the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation. Representatives both from Russian Federation and ENEN presented the project during the plenary session of the VUZPROMEXPO exhibition (see figure 1).
The meeting represented the first step towards defining the strategy and tools to be used in dissemination activities. The importance of cooperation was underlined by all parties. Also there were appointed persons in charge with the activity, from each side, Russian and European.
Figure 1. Kick-off meeting during VUZPROMEXPO exhibition
2.2. ENEN Association Technical Event GA-2015
On 5-7 March 2015, the Aalto University (Helsinki, Finland) hosted the ENEN 13th General Assembly Meeting to summarize the ENEN activities performed in 2014 and discuss the coming ones. Among them the ENEN RU II Project received special attention since the se kick off had been held in Obninsk and Moscow in September 2014. The content and planning of the Project was presented in the joint presentation of the ENEN Secretary General Mr. Pedro Dieguez Porras and Vice-Rector of ROSATOM-CICE&T Prof. Vladimir Artisyuk. Explaining the aim of the project at identifying the common basis for cooperation between EU and Russian E&T organizations in Helsinki made sense to the audience due to the new build Hanhikivi 1 nuclear power plant, project of Fennovoima company at Pyhäjoki, Finland.
Figure 2. ENEN-RU2 project presentation during ENEN Technical Event GA-2015
For both sides it became important to share specifics of education and training in EU and Russia in order to harmonize training trajectories and programmes and use them in the most efficient way, being of particular interest for European participants the training in WWER technology.
2.3. ATOMEXPO 2015
The 1st progress meeting of the project was organised made during the renowned ATOMEXPO 2015 conference in Russian Federation, Moscow. The President and the Secretary General of ENEN had the opportunity to present ENEN and the ENEN-RU II project to a vast audience from Russian academic, research and industrial institutions.
Figure 3. ENEN-RU2 project presentation during ATOMEXPO 2015
During the ATOMEXPO , the Forum was intended to provide the audience a glimpse of the aim of the project and to give instructions useful for the actions envisaged in WPs, as well as to clarify the long-term strategy and to define actions towards the agreed future direction. Project partners and external experts were addressed to review the progress of the project and to express their ideas.
A public round table was also organised with the aim of developing a framework for discussing the opportunities offered by international cooperation in building competences in nuclear engineering for the safe operation of existing NPPs and development of new technological platforms.
Topics addressed were:
• The experience of R&D and educational cooperation in the framework of Euratom-Rosatom agreement;
• The potential of Russian research institutions in scientific and educational cooperation with ENEN universities;
• The experience of “Strengthening of cooperation and exchange for nuclear education and training between the European Union and the Russian Federation. ENEN-RU II” project;
• International cooperation in nuclear fuel cycle closure;
• International cooperation of experimental studies in small-scale power generation;
• The areas of R&D cooperation during development of R&D centres in newcomer states;
• The cases of international cooperation through development and improvement of training materials and conducting of pilot training courses.
2.4. International Conference on NPP Safety and Personnel Training
The Preliminary Project Meeting in Obninsk, Russian Federation, on 24-27 November 2015, was coordinated with the 1st ENEN RU E&T Forum meeting and the International Conference on NPP Safety and Personnel Training at the ROSATOM-CICE&T premises
The ENEN RU II project was presented at the International Conference on “Nuclear Safety and Personnel Training”, organized by MEPhI on November 25-27, 2015.
For the international Conference two extended abstracts were also submitted by:
• ENEN (in the name of the President and of the Secretary General), see Annex I.
• UPB (Prof. Petre Ghitescu), see Annex II.
These abstracts represent further dissemination actions having relevance for the ENEN-RU II project.
Figure 4. ENEN-RU II participation during the “Nuclear Safety and Personnel Training” conference
2.5. ATOMEXPO-2017
The final ENEN-RU II project meeting was one of the most important and it was held in Russian Federation, during the ATOMEXPO-2017 conference in Moscow. During the conference a round table was organized with the presence of the following project participants: Leon Cizelj (president of ENEN), Marco Ricotti (president of CIRTEN) and Vladimir Artisyuk (Vice rector of ROSATOM CICET).
Figure 5. Meeting at ATOMEXPO 2017
The representatives of ENEN and ROSATOM-CICE&T signed a Memorandum of Understanding renewing the successful cooperation between organizations. The participants reviewed the results of the ENEN-RU II project, shared their experiences and discussed the plans for further cooperation.
Figure 6. Memorandum of Understanding by ENEN and ROSATOM-CICE&T
3. Online dissemination
As important as the physical dissemination, the work of dissemination of information online is reported in this section.
3.1. ENEN Website of the project
The ENEN RU II project is reported in the website of the ENEN association in the link:
http://www.enen-assoc.org/en/training/enenru2.html
A brief introduction to the project objectives, European and Russian partners, work packages, ENEN RU Database of Infrastructures, and a detailed project timeline.
Figure 7. ENEN dedicated website to ENEN-RUII project
The timeline of the ENEN RU II Project project includes the following events
- ACTIVE LINKS INCLUDED -
• 29 and 30 September 2014: ENEN RU II Project Kick-off Meeting in Obninsk and Moscow
• 30 September 2014: Presentation of the ENEN RU II project in Vuzpromexpo Conference in Moscow
• November 2014: Reference in the EU-Russia-Year of Science Website
• 6 March 2015: Presentation of ENEN RU II project in the ENEN General Assembly in Helsinki, Finland
• 1 June 2015: 1st Progress Meeting of the ENEN RU II project in Moscow
• 2 June 2015: Setup of the E&T Forum and presentation of the ENEN RU II project in ATOMEXPO 2015, in Moscow
• 24 and 25 November 2015: ENEN RU E&T Forum Meeting in Obninsk
• 23 to 27 November 2015: Joint E&T course on "Engineering aspects of Fuel Fabrication" in Obninsk
• 25 November 2015: Presentation of ENEN RU II project in the International Conference on “Nuclear Safety and Personnel Training" in Obninsk
• 4 March 2016: Presentation of the evolution of the ENEN RU II project in the ENEN General Assembly in Geel, Belgium
• 3 May 2016: Meeting of European partners in Brussels, Belgium
• June & July 2016: PhD stage of 3 researchers during 6-7 weeks in NRNU MEPhI, Moscow
• 27 June 2016: 2nd Project Progress Meeting in Saint Petersburg
• 4-15 July 2016: Participation of 4 EU researchers in the training Summer School on Neutronics at MEPhI, in Moscow
• June 2016: ENEN RU E&T Forum meeting in Saint Petersburg
• June 2016: Joint Training course organized by ROSATOM-CICE&T: “The safety issues of VVER-type reactors with nuclear fuel based on reprocessed uranium” in Saint Petersburg
• October 2016: Joint Training course on "Safety Culture Management: Methodology and Practice" in Saint Petersburg
• October 2016: Joint Training course on "Systematic Approach to Training Methodology" organized by Tecnatom in Tarragona
• 8-9 December 2016: 3rd Project Progress Meeting of ENEN-RU II in Prague
• 3 March 2017: Presentation of the evolution of the ENEN RU II project in the ENEN General Assembly in Manchester, United Kingdom
• 25-28 April 2017: Joint Education course on the “Introduction to Nuclear safety analysis of Nuclear Reactors with state-of-art Computer Programs” by TU Munich, Germany
• 3-4 May 2017: Meeting of European partners in Brussels, Belgium.
• May 2017: Stage of an EU PhD researcher at NRNU MEPhI in Moscow
• 17-19 May 2017: Joint Education course on “Multiphysics simulation of nuclear systems” organized at the POLIMI campus in Milan, Italy
• 30 May-2 June 2017: Joint E&T course on “Simulation of different NPPs operation” organized at CTU in Prague, Czech Republic
• 20 June 2017: ENEN RU E&T Forum Meeting in ATOMEXPO 2017, in Moscow
• 21 June 2017: Final ENEN RU II Project Meeting in ATOMEXPO 2017, in Moscow
3.2. E&T database website
One of the results of the fifth work package of the first ENEN-RU project has been the development of a database to store the data collected the E&T facilities, laboratories and equipment for exchange purposes. An initial version has been created in Microsoft access in order to establish and test the structure of the database. This has been then further developed and implemented in a web based database which is available at http://www.enenru-db.net/ .
Access to the database is restricted at the moment to the ENEN-RU project partners but can be granted following a registration process also to external users too, several database access levels being available. The map of the database is also linked and visible from the other project websites.
Figure 8. ENEN-RU II data base website
3.3. ROSATOM-CICET website of the project
As a result of the cooperation, ROSATOM dedicated a part their website to dissemination of project result. In this side of the website, all activities performed in the framework of ENEN-RU II project, were presented. The website can be accessed by following the link below:
http://rosatomtech.com/category/cooperation-under-enen-ru-projects/
Figure 9. ROSATOM-CICET website
4. Scientific publications
4.1. Articles
The following scientific articles were produced by researchers and students as a result of the work and exchanges organised in the project:
• “Specifications for a coupled neutronics thermal-hydraulics SFR test case” A. Tassone, A. D. Smirnov and G. V. Tikhomirov, Journal of Physics: Conference Series, Volume 781, Number 1, Institute of Physics Publishing, United Kingdom, 2017.
• “Test case specifications for coupled neutronics-thermal hydraulics calculation of Gas-cooled Fast Reactor”, F. Osuský, R. Bahdanovich, G. Farkas, J. Haščík, G. V. Tikhomirov. Journal of Physics: Conference Series, Vol. 781, Institute of Physics Publishing, United Kingdom, 2017.
• “Test problem for thermal-hydraulics and neutronic coupled calculation fore ALFREAD reactor core”, A. Filip, G Darie, I. S. Saldikov , A. D. Smirnov, G. V. Tikhomirov, Journal of Physics: Conference Series, Vol. 781, Institute of Physics Publishing, United Kingdom, 2017.
4.2. Extended abstracts
The following extended abstracts were presented by ENEN and UPB representatives at the International Conference on NPP Safety and Personnel Training Obninsk, Russian Federation, on 24-27 November 2015:
• “The ENEN-RU II Project in the frame of the actions of ENEN aimed at promoting mutual recognition in E&T”, by Walter AMBROSINI and Pedro DIEGUEZ PORRAS.
• “ENEN-RU Project on Evaluation of Nuclear Engineering Curricula”, by Petre GHITESCU.
5. Conclusion
The main objectives of the dissemination plan were:
• participation in relevant scientific events;
• development of an institutional database with help of project partners from European and Russian sides;
• dedicated websites both from European and Russian side.
All these objectives were met. There were participation to 5 important scientific events; three dedicated websites were created (one from Russian side and one from European side, and the database); three publications and two dedicated papers were presented.
List of Websites:
Website of the EU side of the project in the page of the ENEN Association:
http://www.enen.eu/en/projects/enenru2.html
Website of the Russian side of the project in the page of Rosatom CICET:
http://rosatomtech.com/category/cooperation-under-enen-ru-projects/