10th School on Nuclear Power amassed over 200 listeners

On 26^th – 29^th November 2018 in Warsaw, Świerk and Różan, lectures and workshops of tenth edition of School on Nuclear Power were held, organized by NCBJ, Faculty of Physics University of Warsaw and ZUOP. The attendees had a chance to listen to presentations of 20 lecturers from the whole world, discuss the project „Polish Power Policy to year 2040 [Polityka Energetyczna Polski do 2040]” and take part in educational excursions.

The most important accent of the School was a presentation of Director of Ministry of Energy Nuclear Power Department Dr Józef Sobolewski, who discussed the program of „Polish Power Policy to year 2040[Polityka Energetyczna Polski do 2040] (PEP2040)”. The program assumes construction of the first nuclear power block at the latest in 2033, and subsequent power blocks afterwards to achieve the maximum power of 9000 MW in 2043. Dr Sobolewski explained, that in 2033 installed power deficiencies will appear and nuclear power will be an excellent supplement to them.

The declarations of Dr Sobolewski were answered with reports from technology suppliers interested in participating in an integrated auction for construction of nuclear power plant in Poland, specifically French company EDF, Korean Korea Hydro and Nuclear Power Corporation and American-Japanese company Hitachi-GE Nuclear Energy. Those reports started a lively discussion about advantages and disadvantages of proposed technology between lecturers and Polish specialists from PGE EJ1, PAA and other industrial and scientific institutions present in the room.

Representatives of Polish companies responsible for implementation of program of construction of nuclear power plants presented the current state of progress in this field to the attendees. The subject of location research was discussed by CEO of PGE EJ1 company MSc Engineer Krzysztof Sadłowski, and the subject of possible addition of nuclear power plant to the power network was discussed by MSc Engineer Zbigniew Uszyński from Polskie Sieci Elektroenergetyczne S.A. company.

An important part of the School were lectures touching on various aspects of development and social acceptance of nuclear power in other countries. Mrs Yukari Niwa Yamashita, Director of the Institute of Energy Economics (IEE) from Japan discussed problems of power transformation after the accident at Fukushima in her country. Professor Alfred Voss, former Director of Institute for Energy Economics and Rational Energy Use in Stuttgart, presented problems of German policy, called „Energiewende”, and Professor Wacław Gudowski form Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm told about an ideal hydro-nuclear energy mix and unusual social acceptance for nuclear energy in Sweden.

Large interest, especially in the context of the problem of radiohoby in society, was sparked by a lecture from Dr S.M.J. Mortazavi from University of Wisconsin, USA, who stayed in Poland for the first time, and who was involved in research in radio-hardiness effect in inhabitants of regions with high radiation level (over 260 mSv annually, mean world annual dose is 2,6 mSv) in Ramsar region in Iran. The radiological monitoring aspects of nuclear objects and environment were also the subject of presentations from the guest from Slovakia (Dr P Chyly, Mochovce NPP) and PAA representative (K. Łyskawiński, Director of CEZAR).

It is worth mentioning, that one of the most lively discissions were sparked by presentations concerning subjects closely related to NCBJ’s plans about construction of research high-temperature reactor in Świerk and, in the future, construction of high-temperature commercial reactor in Poland, producing process heat for Polish chemical and petrochemical industry. The presentation on Polish plans in this subject was delivered by president of the School’s Organisation Committee, MSc Engineer Eleonora Skrzypek, and the presentation on Japanese technology of high-temperature gas cooled reactor HTTR was delivered by Dr Yoshimito Inaba from Japan Atomic Energy Agency, who is currently staying in NCBJ.

At the end of the conference, NCBJ Professor Dr Eng. Andrzej Strupczewski was given a congratulatory letter sent by NCBJ Director Associate Professor Eng. Krzysztof Kurek with acknowledgement of organisation of the whole cycle of schools on nuclear power, crowned with the such a successful current jubilee school.