The Educational and Scientific Institute of Energy Nuclear Power Plants Department Head Professor Volodymyr Kravchenko took part in the conference "Evratom research in action and opportunities for Europe: strategic autonomy of the EU and power engineering systems of the future", held on April 4, 2023 in the city of Brussels. The event was organized by the European Commission to present the new Euratom work program for 2023-2025 period.
At the conference, it was stated that geopolitical challenges related to the war in Ukraine involve consequences not only for Ukraine, but also for whole Europe. The energy crisis resulting from this conflict affects the EU's energy policy and the lives of the average citizen in Europe. Therefore, innovative solutions to replace fossil fuels and reduce dependence on fuel suppliers are becoming increasingly important. In order to reduce by 2050 the negative impact on the external environment, the European Green Deal course was introduced.
One of the ways to implement the European Green Deal is the introduction of leading nuclear technologies, in particular small modular reactors and nuclear fusion technologies.
The "Euratom" new work program includes several areas aimed at increasing the safety of existing nuclear technologies and the development of new nuclear energy technologies. Ukraine is an associate participant of the Euratom program since June 2022. The participation of Ukrainian organizations in this program will increase the safety level of Ukrainian nuclear power plants with a beneficiary effect on the introduction of new nuclear technologies in Ukraine.
Delegates from Ukrainian organizations (SEC Kharkiv Institute of Physics and Technology, Karazin Kharkiv National University, National University Odesa Polytechnics, LLC IPP-CENTER, State Scientific and Technical Center for Nuclear and Radiation Safety), present at the event, expressed interest to deepening participation in Euratom program future projects and had the opportunity to create new collaborations based on the results of the conference.
The new program for 2023-2025 provides for the allocation for Ukraine of a specialised budget of 0.75 million euros for education, training, capacity building and strengthening of cooperation between Ukrainian and European organizations. Every speech of the European partners rendered plenty of sincere support to Ukraine.