On 26 May, Uzbekistan, a JINR Member State, hosted a meeting of the Committee on Non-Energy Application of Nuclear Technologies of the Advisory Board of the International Research Centre based on the MBIR reactor (IRC MBIR). The event took place in Tashkent on the site of the Institute of Nuclear Physics of the Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Uzbekistan. JINR Vice-Director Latchesar Kostov represented the Joint Institute at the meeting. He announced that the Institute together with colleagues had already started working on the research programme of the facility under construction.

Photos by the Press Office of IRC MBIR Consortium Leader LLC

President of the Academy of Sciences of Uzbekistan, RAS foreign member, Plenipotentiary Representatives of the Government of the Republic of Uzbekistan at JINR Bekhzod Yuldashev opened the event with a welcoming speech.

Speaking to the audience, RAS Vice-President, a representative of the IRC MBIR Advisory Board, Doctor of Chemical Sciences Stepan Kalmykov noted, “Uzbekistan is a strategic partner of the MBIR project. Within the work of the IRC MBIR Advisory Board, an international component of the scientific programme of advanced experimental studies continues to be formed.” Stepan Kalmykov highlighted that research at the MBIR reactor would open the way to multilateral scientific collaborations.

JINR Vice-Director, Doctor of Physics and Mathematics Latchesar Kostov noted a growing interest in neutron studies around the world and spoke about JINR’s participation in large-scale international research projects of the megascience class, one of which is the IRC MBIR project. “JINR Member States, such as Russia, Vietnam, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and many others are striving to consolidate their work on the use of neutron scattering techniques in research into nuclear physics and condensed matter physics at various neutron sources,” he said. Latchesar Kostov also highlighted that the MBIR project’s infrastructure, in particular, extracted horizontal channels, would provide good opportunities for a wide range of studies. “JINR together with the Physics and Energy Institute conduct preparations developing the research programme at extracted channels of MBIR,” he added.

More than 40 representatives of largest Russian and foreign enterprises of the atomic sector took part in the event in person and online. Leading scientific and educational organizations of Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, China, Armenia, Algeria, Brazil, the RSA, as well as IAEA representatives also joined the event. Participants discussed aims and tasks of the MBIR project, prospects for the collaboration development, as well as engagement of students into scientific work within MBIR. Director of international scientific and technical projects of the Rosatom State Corporation, Director General of IRC MBIR Consortium Leader LLC Vasily Konstantinov moderated the meeting.

It should be reminded that the Joint Institute joined the creation of the new reactor in the autumn 2021 after signing a relevant agreement with IRC MBIR Consortium Leader LLC.

JINR is represented at the Advisory Board of the MBIR by Latchesar Kostov and Boris Sharkov, Special Representative of the JINR Director for Cooperation with international and Russian scientific organizations. The Board coordinates the work of the relevant committees: on the closure of the nuclear fuel cycle; materials and fuel research; the safety of the use of nuclear technologies; code validation; non-energy applications of nuclear technologies. Head of the FLNP JINR Nuclear Physics Department Valery Shvetsov became a participant of the latter one. Vladimir Skuratov, Head of Sector No. 8 of Ion-Implantation Nanotechnologies and Radiation Materials Science of FLNR JINR, joined the committee on materials and fuel study.