Atomexpo 2019, part 1: events and a sudden space engine
On April 15-16, the eleventh international forum Atomexpo-2019 was held in Sochi. I was there as part of the bloggers invited by Rosatom. A lot of materials and impressions accumulated in two days, so I divided them into three parts. There will be a story about the events - the opening of the forum, plenary discussions, awarding Atomexpo Awards. In the second post - my impressions of the exposure. And I want to highlight a separate third publication in order to tell about proatomic environmental activists.
The forum was held in the Main Media Center. Large spaces, which in an empty form resemble a mixture of an airport with a swimming pool, were transformed into something much more green and comfortable, but at the same time filled with high technologies. Maybe that’s what the future looks like.
')
Grand opening of the forum. The far left is the Director General of Rosatom State Corporation Alexei Likhachev, in yellow is the General Director of the World Nuclear Association Agneta Rising, and they are represented by the first persons of the IAEA, the European Commission and the OECD Nuclear Energy Agency.
More than 4,000 people from 74 countries and more than 290 representatives of Russian and foreign media registered on the forum, and tens of various gadgets from action cameras and smartphones to professional devices recorded the discovery.
After the grand opening and touring the exhibition, the plenary session began. It was opened by Sergey Kiriyenko, who led Rosatom from 2005 to 2016, who read out Vladimir Putin’s welcoming speech and congratulated himself.
The general theme of the forum was called “Atomic technologies for a better life”, therefore there was a lot of talk about ecology and sustainable development goals set by the UN . Did you know, for example, that thanks to atomic energy, 2 million tons of carbon dioxide were not released into the atmosphere? Despite the success of renewable energy, to achieve UN climate goals without an atom will not work. It is nuclear energy that can provide clean water, high-quality medicine and light, so that children can study on a dark evening and go to school instead of chopping wood.
The plenary meeting was attended by representatives of several countries, including Uzbekistan, Serbia and Zambia, I recorded theses of speeches, good, they turned out to be quite curious (or you can watch the broadcast , starting from 23 minutes).
The representative of India spoke about successes - ten new PWR reactors and two light water reactors will be built in the country. Atomic technologies are used from desalination and agriculture to proton therapy against cancer.
The speaker from Uzbekistan explained why the country, having large gas reserves, is going to build nuclear power plants. Nuclear energy is economically beneficial, no matter how much gas it will end, and a modern NPP unit can be operated for up to a hundred years. In addition, high technologies of nuclear energy improve the scientific potential of the country and the development of society.
The European speaker said that the EU faces the goal of abandoning hydrocarbons by 2050. And since no technology survives on its own, the economic coexistence of different types of green energy, both solar and wind and atomic, is needed.
The representative of Zambia told about the floods in 2015, because of which hydroelectric power stations suffered. The country realized the need for energy diversification and developed a plan for the construction of nuclear power plants. The result will appear not fast, within 10-15 years, but already now 50 students are studying in Russian universities, who will become the forerunners of progress.
The Minister of Innovation and Technological Development of Serbia recalled that the country had a long tradition of nuclear technology, disrupted after the collapse of the USSR. Now Serbia wants to develop high technologies and to cooperate not only with Rosatom, but also with Roscosmos.
In the course of the discussion, they raised the issue of Russian atomic cities, which not only live better than their regions, but participate in state programs and take on more of the country's global agenda. Even the issue of gender equality was mentioned - he literally caught the eye of the sexual imbalance that the speakers that the audience.
During the day there were solemn signing of agreements. In total, they concluded more than forty.
In parallel with the work of the exposition there were round tables. As an IT specialist, I looked at the discussion on digitalization. In the hall reigned pleasant technocratic atmosphere. New technologies are not only new opportunities, but also new challenges, so the speakers recalled the recent disasters of “Boeing 737 MAX” and the fact that now the problem may appear unexpectedly after updating the software version. In general, the nuclear industry is inevitably conservative due to safety requirements, but the complexity of the tasks and the high level of quality of work are its advantages in the market. Although, of course, as elsewhere there are some difficulties: the IAEA expert Dr. Pekka Tapani PiL complained that despite all the digital technologies, we now cannot do what our predecessors could have done - to meet deadlines and budgets. And the Vice-Rector of the National Research Nuclear University MEPI Tatyana Leonova rightly pointed out that in order for students to work with new technologies after graduating from the university, their preparation must be two years ahead.
A big surprise was waiting for me on the second day at the round table “Nuclear technologies as a driver of scientific and technological progress”. Many of you have heard of tokamaks — experimental facilities and possible candidates for fusion reactors in which plasma is held in a torus-shaped (donut) chamber. There are alternative concepts where the camera trap is open. To keep the plasma trapped, you need some way to hold it. And one of the options is to create a swirling magnetic field, which, like a meat grinder auger, will “drive” the plasma back. But, twisting the "meat grinder" of the magnetic field in the opposite direction, you can get an electro-jet space engine!
A source
In this case, the engine found curious properties. The main advantage is that it is omnivorous and can work on plasma from any fuel. The main disadvantage is that it is irrational to make it small and compact. Recently, there was an idea in the news about recycling space debris into fuel, but it offered a chemical engine, which creates its own problems. And the omnivorous motor with a screw magnetic field makes it an obvious candidate for a heavy orbital scavenger.
Work on open traps is carried out at the Institute of Nuclear Physics. GI Budker, an experimental PITCH installation has already been created. And at Atomexpo, this binational version of the use of open plasma traps was told by INP senior researcher Alexey Beklemishev.
Speaker Alexey Beklemishev (center)
And I would like to finish the first part with a story about the presentation of the ATOMEXPO AWARDS award created in 2018. In the longlist, there were 52 projects from 25 countries that competed in five nominations.
Winners and nominees, memory photos
I express my gratitude for the invitation to the press service of Rosatom and personally to Oleg Kondranenkov.
To be continued.
The forum was held in the Main Media Center. Large spaces, which in an empty form resemble a mixture of an airport with a swimming pool, were transformed into something much more green and comfortable, but at the same time filled with high technologies. Maybe that’s what the future looks like.
')
Grand opening of the forum. The far left is the Director General of Rosatom State Corporation Alexei Likhachev, in yellow is the General Director of the World Nuclear Association Agneta Rising, and they are represented by the first persons of the IAEA, the European Commission and the OECD Nuclear Energy Agency.
More than 4,000 people from 74 countries and more than 290 representatives of Russian and foreign media registered on the forum, and tens of various gadgets from action cameras and smartphones to professional devices recorded the discovery.
After the grand opening and touring the exhibition, the plenary session began. It was opened by Sergey Kiriyenko, who led Rosatom from 2005 to 2016, who read out Vladimir Putin’s welcoming speech and congratulated himself.
The general theme of the forum was called “Atomic technologies for a better life”, therefore there was a lot of talk about ecology and sustainable development goals set by the UN . Did you know, for example, that thanks to atomic energy, 2 million tons of carbon dioxide were not released into the atmosphere? Despite the success of renewable energy, to achieve UN climate goals without an atom will not work. It is nuclear energy that can provide clean water, high-quality medicine and light, so that children can study on a dark evening and go to school instead of chopping wood.
The plenary meeting was attended by representatives of several countries, including Uzbekistan, Serbia and Zambia, I recorded theses of speeches, good, they turned out to be quite curious (or you can watch the broadcast , starting from 23 minutes).
The representative of India spoke about successes - ten new PWR reactors and two light water reactors will be built in the country. Atomic technologies are used from desalination and agriculture to proton therapy against cancer.
The speaker from Uzbekistan explained why the country, having large gas reserves, is going to build nuclear power plants. Nuclear energy is economically beneficial, no matter how much gas it will end, and a modern NPP unit can be operated for up to a hundred years. In addition, high technologies of nuclear energy improve the scientific potential of the country and the development of society.
The European speaker said that the EU faces the goal of abandoning hydrocarbons by 2050. And since no technology survives on its own, the economic coexistence of different types of green energy, both solar and wind and atomic, is needed.
The representative of Zambia told about the floods in 2015, because of which hydroelectric power stations suffered. The country realized the need for energy diversification and developed a plan for the construction of nuclear power plants. The result will appear not fast, within 10-15 years, but already now 50 students are studying in Russian universities, who will become the forerunners of progress.
The Minister of Innovation and Technological Development of Serbia recalled that the country had a long tradition of nuclear technology, disrupted after the collapse of the USSR. Now Serbia wants to develop high technologies and to cooperate not only with Rosatom, but also with Roscosmos.
In the course of the discussion, they raised the issue of Russian atomic cities, which not only live better than their regions, but participate in state programs and take on more of the country's global agenda. Even the issue of gender equality was mentioned - he literally caught the eye of the sexual imbalance that the speakers that the audience.
During the day there were solemn signing of agreements. In total, they concluded more than forty.
In parallel with the work of the exposition there were round tables. As an IT specialist, I looked at the discussion on digitalization. In the hall reigned pleasant technocratic atmosphere. New technologies are not only new opportunities, but also new challenges, so the speakers recalled the recent disasters of “Boeing 737 MAX” and the fact that now the problem may appear unexpectedly after updating the software version. In general, the nuclear industry is inevitably conservative due to safety requirements, but the complexity of the tasks and the high level of quality of work are its advantages in the market. Although, of course, as elsewhere there are some difficulties: the IAEA expert Dr. Pekka Tapani PiL complained that despite all the digital technologies, we now cannot do what our predecessors could have done - to meet deadlines and budgets. And the Vice-Rector of the National Research Nuclear University MEPI Tatyana Leonova rightly pointed out that in order for students to work with new technologies after graduating from the university, their preparation must be two years ahead.
A big surprise was waiting for me on the second day at the round table “Nuclear technologies as a driver of scientific and technological progress”. Many of you have heard of tokamaks — experimental facilities and possible candidates for fusion reactors in which plasma is held in a torus-shaped (donut) chamber. There are alternative concepts where the camera trap is open. To keep the plasma trapped, you need some way to hold it. And one of the options is to create a swirling magnetic field, which, like a meat grinder auger, will “drive” the plasma back. But, twisting the "meat grinder" of the magnetic field in the opposite direction, you can get an electro-jet space engine!
A source
In this case, the engine found curious properties. The main advantage is that it is omnivorous and can work on plasma from any fuel. The main disadvantage is that it is irrational to make it small and compact. Recently, there was an idea in the news about recycling space debris into fuel, but it offered a chemical engine, which creates its own problems. And the omnivorous motor with a screw magnetic field makes it an obvious candidate for a heavy orbital scavenger.
Work on open traps is carried out at the Institute of Nuclear Physics. GI Budker, an experimental PITCH installation has already been created. And at Atomexpo, this binational version of the use of open plasma traps was told by INP senior researcher Alexey Beklemishev.
Speaker Alexey Beklemishev (center)
And I would like to finish the first part with a story about the presentation of the ATOMEXPO AWARDS award created in 2018. In the longlist, there were 52 projects from 25 countries that competed in five nominations.
- In the category “Atomic Technologies for Improving the Quality of Life”, the Brazilian project of a multipurpose gamma irradiator, which is used for radio sterilization, as well as disinfection and disinsection of cultural and art objects with a productivity of 20,000 artifacts per year, won.
- The Creative Energy Prize was awarded to the Creative Energy project from the Hungarian NPP Paks, dedicated to the reuse of furniture and other items. 2312 ideas from youth should influence our attitude towards garbage.
- The symbol of the prize, the figure of Prometheus, was received by the representative of the Chinese Tianwan NPP in the nomination “Best start” for the construction of the 3rd and 4th power units. And his performance, in my opinion, deserved a separate award. Unlike all the other winners who spoke in English, the Chinese said in Russian something like the following: “When we built units 1 and 2, things went badly, we didn’t meet the budget or the deadlines. Having accumulated experience, we abandoned all the erroneous paths and went the only correct way. Joke. Of course, despite the experience, we again began to have problems. But we, together with our Russian partners, did not search for the guilty, but began to eliminate these problems as much as we could. And in the end we were able to successfully implement the project. ” Maybe in print it looks paler, but the live performance was really impressive.
- The Innovations for the Future nomination was won by the Japanese company Marubeni Utility Services Ltd with a nuclear waste recycling project.
- And in the last, fifth, nomination “Development of human capital”, the winner was the IAEA “School of Management in the Field of Nuclear Energy” .
Winners and nominees, memory photos
I express my gratitude for the invitation to the press service of Rosatom and personally to Oleg Kondranenkov.
To be continued.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/452538/
All Articles