On April 24 MEPhI has become a platform for discussing issues of nuclear nonproliferation and counteraction against nuclear terrorism. Russian-American seminar was organized and held in the framework of a program of increasing competitiveness in order to provide personnel training and research activities in the field of nuclear nonproliferation.
The international workshop was preceded by a series of reports and lectures by leading experts from Russian and American sides for students in English, combined by the problem of training the next generation of technical specialists to ensure the non-proliferation regime. MEPhI principal Mikhail Strikhanov, former Director of the Los Alamos National Laboratory (USA) Siegfried Hecker, a representative of the Leypunsky Physics and Power Engineering Institute Gennady Pshakin and employee of the Los Alamos National Laboratory James Toews made a speech to students and University staff in the Assembly hall.
Mikhail Strikhanov in his report dwelled on the examples of University cooperation with international scientific organizations, including the IAEA, on the experience of the MEPhI in personnel training in the field of nuclear nonproliferation and noted that in this regard, National Research Nuclear University “MEPhI”, as one of the main suppliers of personnel for the Russian nuclear industry, is a good platform for discussion of this issue. Siegfried Hecker told about risks of nuclear terrorism. G. Pshakin told about activities aimed at ensuring physical nuclear security of nuclear facilities (“First Line of Defense”) and various types of illegal activities with regard to the use of nuclear materials. James Toews spoke about the cooperation between the USA and Russia towards combating illicit trafficking of nuclear materials in the framework of the “Second Line of Defense” launched in 1998.
The workshop was continued with a round table with participation of specialists and students of relevant specialities. Representative of All-Russia Research Institute of Automatics (VNIIA) Andrei Sviridov concentrated the audience attention on the problem of detection for the revealing and measurement of nuclear materials. He noted that Russia is on the first place in the world to equip its borders with systems of radiation control. And this system proves its high efficiency in different climatic conditions.
Consequences of any nuclear or radiological emergency, the impact of which extends beyond the site, immediately become a problem of regional or even global significance. Employee of RAS Nuclear Safety Institute (IBRAE) Leonid Bolshov emphasized in his speech that one of the most important elements, ensuring safety of nuclear facilities, is readiness of emergency response system for containment of radiation accidents.
An issue of system analysis of risks in the field of non-proliferation and nuclear terrorism was considered by the employee of the Stanford University Jason Reinhardt. He noted that owing to small empirical data specialists from different countries had controversial definition of the model of terrorism. In this regard, international cooperation and agreement on common approaches allow more successful development of countermeasures against the threat of nuclear terrorism.
This seminar on the issues of international cooperation between Russia and the USA in the field of nuclear nonproliferation was the second event of this level with the participation of leading Russian and American experts. The first forum, which was held at the University on June 3, 2013 and organized on the initiative of leaders of Russian nuclear centers and their counterparts from the USA, assembled many of those who played a key role in achieving success of the Russian-American nuclear cooperation in the last 20 years.
