Nuclear energy information center to officially open in Minsk in early 2015

The solemn opening of the Minsk nuclear energy information center will take place in early January 2015, BelTA learned from Yulia Vanina, Press Secretary of the Belarusian Education Ministry. In her words, the nuclear energy information center was technically opened in the national center for innovative and technical creativity in late November.

The information center has been created upon the initiative of the Russian state nuclear energy corporation Rosatom and the Belarusian Education Ministry. The center is expected to introduce visitors to principles of operation of the Belarusian nuclear power plant and the design of the nuclear power plant’s safeguards. Models of the industrial site of the nuclear power plant and the reactor are available for examination. The information center has a multimedia movie theater that combines panoramic 3D projection, computer graphics and animation, stereo sound, interactive consoles and personal monitors for better information delivery.

Visitors will be able to use multimedia programs, including a 45-minute-long multimedia virtual performance The World of Nuclear Energy as well as several interactive quizzes. Thanks to the employed technologies visitors will be able to dive into virtual reality. The program is universal and targets school students of eight years old and above as well as adults. Apart from the main program visitors will be able to enjoy programs on astronomy, natural sciences, country studies in Russian and English.

The main purpose of the center is to raise the awareness of Belarusians about radiation safety, nuclear power engineering, to popularize atomic science and technologies among school students, offer career guidance assistance, promote nuclear technologies and education in the area of nuclear energy industry. According to the source, the nuclear energy information center will target school and university students, teachers and professors of secondary schools, vocational schools, and universities, representatives of public organizations, and mass media. Visitors will be able to learn about the history and development of nuclear energy industry, the use of innovative physics researches, and the social and economic development of the country in view of the construction of nuclear energy enterprises and the relevant infrastructure.

Nuclear energy awareness-raising centers are created in the regions where Rosatom’s nuclear enterprises are present. The first center of the kind was opened in the Russian city of Tomsk in November 2008. Since then 17 centers of the kind have been opened in Russia, namely in Moscow, Saint Petersburg, Yekaterinburg, Smolensk and other cities. In 2012 Rosatom opened information centers abroad, including in Hanoi (Vietnam), Mersin, Buyukeceli (Turkey). The nuclear energy information center in Dhaka, Bangladesh was opened in 2013.