Belarusian students getting on-the-job training at Rostov nuclear power plant

Students of the Belarusian National Technical University are getting on-the-job training at the Rostov nuclear power plant in Russia, the press service of the Belarusian Energy Ministry told BelTA.

The Belarusian National Technical University has established cooperation with Rosenergoatom Concern, which operates all the Russian nuclear power plants. Right now eight fifth-year students of the university are getting familiar with the Rostov nuclear power plant. The local specialists are expected to share their practical approaches and knowledge concerning systems and equipment in the reactor department, the turbine department, control over the power-generating unit in a simulated emergency, and nuclear power plant control systems as a whole. The curriculum has been put together in a way to allow the students to get to know and remember well what they would need after graduation.

The Belarusian National Technical University is the main Belarusian higher education institution to train nuclear industry specialists. Its students get theoretical knowledge and some hands-on experience. Close attention is paid to training personnel for the Belarusian nuclear power plant. More and more graduates of Belarusian universities, including the Belarusian National Technical University, join the ranks of the Belarusian nuclear power plant personnel every year. “Our company hires young and promising specialists. On-the-job training at an operating nuclear power plant plays an important role from the point of view of quality training of the personnel,” said Alexander Yerin, Deputy Head of the Education and Training Center of the state enterprise Belarusian Nuclear Power Plant.

A government program on training personnel for the nuclear energy industry was developed in Belarus in 2008. Young specialists are trained at 13 Belarusian education institutions – universities and colleges, with which the Belarusian nuclear power plant cooperates. The first few specialists trained as part of the program graduated in 2013. Over the course of five years the Belarusian nuclear power plant hired 264 young specialists. They work virtually in every branch of the chief engineer service and the capital construction office of the Belarusian nuclear power plant.

The Belarusian nuclear power plant is being built near Ostrovets, Grodno Oblast using a Russian design featuring two VVER-1200 reactors with the total output capacity of 2,400MW. The first power-generating unit is scheduled for commissioning in 2019, with the second one to go online in 2020.