A participant of the UkrNS “Nuclear Innovators” competition took part in the finals of the European competition Innovations for Nuclear

Eduard Omelchuk, a representative of the Rivne NPP, took part in the finals of the Innovations for Nuclear (I4N) Europe competition, held on June 27, 2024 during the International Forum “Sustainable Nuclear Innovation” in Sofia, Bulgaria.

The youth community of the European Nuclear Society – Young Generation Network, holds the I4N Europe competition annually. Its goal is to encourage young professionals in the field of creating innovative nuclear technologies, developments, research, as well as start-ups for the industry created by multidisciplinary teams. This year, representatives from eight countries took part in the finals of the competition: Great Britain, Germany, France, Bulgaria, Italy, Spain, Poland and Ukraine.

Eduard Omelchuk, field operator (non-licensed reactor operator) of the reactor department of the Rivne NPP, member of the NGO “UkrNS”, presented his project “Preparation andenhancement of maintenance and operational worksefficiency through 3D modeling”, with which he took second place in the category “Applied Development” of the Ukrainian competition “Nuclear Innovators” 2024.

In his project, Eduard Omelchuk presented his own work on the development of an executive program for the Rivne NPP, created using 3D modeling of the reactor plant, sealed volume and equipment of the VVER-440 power unit and designed to simplify and improve the work of the NPP repair and operational personnel.

In particular, such comprehensive three-dimensional models of the power unit could be used on an ongoing basis for conducting preliminary briefings of contract and maintenance personnel, newly hired employees, for training and studying state fire rescue units personnel, tracking equipment defects, etc.

The presentation of Eduard Omelchuk attracted the attention of the audience and the jury of the competition – representatives of European scientific organizations and enterprises of the nuclear industry in Europe and received worthy assessments and suggestions on the possible application of the project. Eduard Omelchuk’s project received an incentive place along with the projects of the Polish and Bulgarian teams.

The winners of this year’s I4N Europe competition are a team from Germany with their project “Depleted Uranium for Green Chemistry”, with which they will represent Europe at the global innovation competition during the International Youth Nuclear Congress in Abu Dhabi, UAE, in the fall of 2024. The team of Spain and France took the second and third places.

The forum program “Sustainable Nuclear Innovations,” in which representatives of the Ukrainian Nuclear Society took place too, was dedicated to the introduction of nuclear innovations, the latest research and development, as well as the development of the so-called nuclear ecosystem. The forum was attended by the European Commissioner for Innovation, the Director General NEA OECD, the Chairman of the National Committee Bulgaria World Energy Council and the Chairman of the Nuclear Regulatory Agency Bulgaria.

Additionally, Ukrainian participants of the I4N Europe forum and competition took part in a technical tour of the Kozloduy Nuclear Power Plant.