NASB to set up first national laboratory in 2014

The first national laboratory of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus (NASB) will be set up at the United Energy and Nuclear Research Institute Sosny in 2014, Sergei Kilin, Chief Academic Secretary of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus, told reporters on 5 February, BelTA has learnt.

The national laboratory in Sosny will be multifunctional. Its fields of research will include scientific support of the construction and operation of the nuclear power plant, the use of radioactive materials for biological purposes, and research associated with sterilization of various substances.

Several national biotechnological laboratories are on the agenda. National laboratories in the field of resource management and environmental management are to be set up, too. According to the Chief Academic Secretary of the NASB, other proposals are also considered.

Vladimir Gusakov, Chairman of the Presidium of the National Academy of Sciences, emphasized that national laboratories are a well-established and recognized form of scientific management. They are set up to address a specific task associated with fundamental and applied research. National laboratories envisage a more efficient system of reward for scientists. After a laboratory has completed its assignments, it is closed down. The NASB informed that the first national laboratory at the Sosny institute is designed for a long period of time.