For four years along, the Odessa Polytechnic’s Department of Nuclear Power Plants is participating in the American-Ukrainian program of short-term and long-term cooperation on nuclear energy, organized on the basis of the Ukrainian State Scientific and Technical Center for Nuclear and Radiation Safety at the initiative of the American Argonne National laboratory and under the organizational and financial support of the US Department of Energy.
In October 2023, following the results of two nuclear summer school courses, the Nuclear Power Plants Department Master program student S.S. Prokofiev was selected as one of the best graduates participate in the international student exchange program and invited to visit in April 2024 the Argonne Laboratory. This event was organized as part of the preparation for the implementation of Westinghouse's program to introduce the use of MMR, with the involvement of companies from the world's leading nuclear countries. As part of the event, selected participants presented scientific reports, At the meeting with representatives of the State Department and the US Department of Energy in Washington, Serhiy, developing the previously researched topic of nuclear fuel handling (for the newest generations reactors, including small modular reactors), presented a report on the issue of post-Fukushima measures (with problems analysis and study of the possibility to use post-Fukushima measures in such reactors).
After listening to the reports, the problems of the nuclear energy development in Ukraine, especially in the wartime, have been discussed. The US Deputy Energy Minister David M. Turk expressed his sincere support to Ukraine and hope for our countries’ fruitful cooperation in the future. At the same time, the Ambassador of Ukraine O. S. Markarova raised the issue of maintaining young Ukrainian intellectuals and encouraging them to build a professional career in the Motherland. Representatives of the US State Department expressed confidence in the successful construction of a better future through the joint efforts of the United States and Ukraine.