UrFU Expands Cooperation for Sustainable Development of the Arctic

12:47, October 23, 2018

UrFU students are leading the competition of the 'Green Square of Carbon-free Power' projects

Ural Federal University is the leader in the number of student papers prepared within the framework of the “Green Square of Carbon-free Power” project with the assistance of the Transregional Civic Ecological Organization "Greenlife". The best developments have been selected by experts for participation in the XI Regional Public Dialogue Forum 'Cooperation for Sustainable Development of the Arctic'.

The forum has taken place in Murmansk under the authority of “Rosatom” state corporation's community board. The government of Murmansk region, FSUE (Federal State Unitary Enterprise) 'Atomflot', FSUE 'RosRAO', 'Rosenergoatom' AO, V.I. Vernadsky Nongovernmental Ecological Fund and Transregional Civic Ecological Organization "Green Cross" co-organized the forum.

The development prospects of the Northern Sea Route, challenges to be faced, the mechanisms for ensuring effective dialogue between the government, business community and the public during the Arctic projects implementation.

The UrFU delegation consisted of the representatives of the GSEM Research and Educational Center “INZHEK”, Ural Power Engineering Institute's Department of Nuclear Power Plants and Renewable Energy Sources, Institute of Physics and Technology's departments of Experimental Physics and Physics of High-Energy Processes.

Universities' departments in nuclear regions of Russia have been observing the impact of nuclear power on the environmental footprint reduction. Creative teams of students and teachers have prepared 37 projects from which the experts have chosen 10 to be presented at the forum. Four projects by UrFU teams made the cut:

- “Green Power of the Industrial Region”
Research and Educational Center “INZHEK” Environmental Economics Department
Authors: Alyona Konenko, Angela Karayeva, Anastasia Kalyamova, Lyubov Boyprav and Konstantin Chaynikov;

- “Development of Nuclear Power in the Arctic: Problems and Prospects”
Department of Environmental Economics
Authors: Danil Uporov, Elizaveta Rumyantseva and Konstantin Chaynikov;

- “The Prospects of Use of Sverdlovsk Region Energy Resources in the “Green Square' Concept”
Institute of Physics and Technology, Experimental Physics Department
Author: Matvey Agletdinov

- “Multimedia Technologies as Means of the Enhancement the Radiation Literacy amongst the General Public”
Institute of Physics and Technology, Physics of High-Energy Processes Department
Authors: Dmitry Rotman

UrFU projects have sparked interest in the participants of the regional experts session and the 'Rosatom' representatives. They have pointed out the creative dedication and contribution of UrFU student teams and their research supervisors: Head of Environmental Economics Department prof. Elena Magaril, Environmental Economics Department Associate Professors Irina Rukavishnikova, Maria Berezyuk, Alyona Rumyantseva, Larisa Abrzhina, Andrey Boyarinov, Natalia Dukmasova, Lyudmila Teslyuk; Damir Baytimirov, Acting Head of High-Energy Processes Department, Natalya Feofilova, Chemistry and Biology teacher in UrFU Lyceum, and Vladimir Velkin, Associate Professor of the Nuclear Power Plants and Renewable Energy Sources Department.

The forum's guests and participants were given a technical tour on FSUE 'Atomflot'. They had an opportunity to observe the terminating works before start of “Academician Lomonosov”, the only floating atomic power unit in the world. They also visited the cutting-edge atomic ice-breaker '50 Years of Victory'. Within the technical tour the students were given a tour to the first-ever atomic ice-breaker 'Lenin'.

'Work on the practice-oriented cross-disciplinary projects connected with the strategic courses of Russian economy development, their ecological context, an opportunity to present results at such a high-profile forum was an incentive for further development of our students,' said Elena Magaril, the Head of Environmental Economics Department of UrFU.