Ensuring global technological leadership of the State Corporation Rosatom is one of the strategic goals of the scientific division. To achieve this, a culture of innovation is being formed, an effective ecosystem of their support and implementation is being built. It provides investments in the modernization of the existing and creation of new infrastructure, scientific research for the development of its own technologies and competencies. Close cooperation is being built with various scientific centers, universities, industrial and business structures of the country.
The scientific division provides management and technological support for projects of any complexity, fulfilling both industry orders for R & D and in the interests of external customers.
Development of Nuclear Science, Engineering and Technology
The organizations of the scientific division are involved in the implementation of federal projects of the Comprehensive Program "Development of Engineering, Technology and Scientific Research in the Field of Atomic Energy in the Russian Federation" (KP RTTN). The work is carried out in cooperation with the National Research Center "Kurchatov Institute", the Russian Academy of Sciences, and the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation.
The implementation of RTTN projects will bring Russia into the top ten countries in the world in terms of scientific research and development. For example, as part of the creation of an experimental bench base in Dimitrovgrad (Ulyanovsk Region), a multi-purpose research reactor on fast neutrons MBIR is being built. This will make it possible to justify the technologies of two-component nuclear power and closing the fuel cycle. The facility will be the most powerful of the existing, constructed and designed fast neutron research reactors, which has no analogues in the world. An International Research Center (ICI MBIR) is also being created on the basis of MBIR.
The scientific division also develops thermonuclear and plasma technologies, including the creation of supporting infrastructure facilities. The practical output of the project will be the creation of particle and radiation sources for various purposes, powerful plasma engines for spacecraft, innovative equipment for medicine, mechanical engineering, microelectronics and other knowledge-intensive sectors of the economy.
Within the framework of new materials and technologies, scientists are working in three scientific areas: the development of new materials and technologies, including 3D printing, for existing and prospective power plants, as well as their implementation, the synthesis of new superheavy elements of the periodic table and the study of the properties of matter in an extreme state (ESS), the creation of a research liquid salt reactor (IRSR) with a module for processing spent nuclear fuel. This facility will become a pilot site for developing an effective method for burning long-lived radioactive waste.
The results achieved will lay the foundation for further advanced development of the domestic nuclear industry and consolidation of the technological leadership of the Russian Federation in the field of nuclear technologies.
Development of technologies for the nuclear industry, creation of new materials and medical equipment
Every year, the division's research institutes carry out more than a hundred research and development projects (R&D) as part of the implementation of the Unified Industry Thematic Plan of the Rosatom State Corporation (UITP).
They mainly correspond to 10 priority areas of scientific and technological development of the industry:
- Materials and technologies,
- Reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel and multi-recycling of nuclear materials,
- Nuclear medicine,
- Thermonuclear and plasma technologies,
- Development of modern nuclear power based on WWER technologies,
- Laser technologies,
- Low-power nuclear power plants,
- Superconductivity,
- Hydrogen energy,
- Breakthrough: closing the NFC based on RBN,
as well as other areas of strategic importance for the country.
The EOTP includes:
- Exploratory R&D – scientific research and work aimed at obtaining new knowledge and implemented at the suggestion of scientific leaders,
- Advanced projects – projects at the stage of analytical R&D, development and justification of the concept for implementing R&D until reaching the second level of technological readiness (TRL 2.1.),
- Applied R&D – scientific research and experimental design work aimed at solving specific technical problems.
The developments of scientists of the scientific division within the EOTP find their commercial application in different divisions of the State Corporation Rosatom, and can also be useful in the structures of external customers.