African experts participated actively in a series of international events organized by Rosatom’s Technical Academy in St. Petersburg, Russia. Delegates from Rwanda, Sudan, Ghana, and other nations of the continent joined over 400 colleagues from 30 countries to discuss nuclear safety, project management, and small modular reactor technology.
The Technical Academy of the Russian nuclear corporation is an international multi-disciplinary training center for nuclear industry personnel. Since 2019, the Academy has been an IAEA Collaborating Centre. In October 2024, the Technical Academy renewed its agreement and became the first and only center cooperating with the IAEA across five program areas simultaneously, including the promising field of small-scale generation technologies.
Recently, the Rosatom Technical Academy has hosted the 19th International Nuclear Forum on Safety of Nuclear Technologies and Safety Culture, bringing together industry professionals from 10 countries: Russia, Rwanda, Belarus, Vietnam, Egypt, India, Kazakhstan, Turkey, Uzbekistan, and Indonesia. The forum addressed nuclear and radiation safety issues at every stage of the lifecycle of nuclear energy facilities. The program included plenary sessions, panel discussions, thematic sections, and a safety culture school.
“Safety is a personal value for every nuclear industry employee. In 2024, we recorded the lowest number of fatal injuries in the entire history of the nuclear industry. 94% of Rosatom’s subsidiaries operate without injuries; the number of fires has decreased sixfold; zero accidents at hazardous production facilities and a lost-time injury frequency rate of 0.07 are the best indicators among Russian industrial companies,” said Sergey Adamchik, Chief Inspector at Rosatom.
In addition to the forum, the Rosatom Technical Academy conducted two schools on stakeholder engagement and nuclear power project management jointly with the IAEA. The schools were attended by 60 professionals from 26 countries.
They studied innovative approaches to managing large nuclear projects, mastered the fundamentals of nuclear safety, and received practical recommendations for adapting international standards and best practices to national specifics. As part of the training program, the school attendees were taken on a technical tour to the Kalinin Nuclear Power Plant. The international experts visited the turbine halls of Units 1, 2, and 3, and the unit control room.
“This training was very useful for my compatriots, especially due to the opportunity to work with real technical tools and see how safety measures are implemented in practice at an operating nuclear station. We gained knowledge from many leading Russian and international experts,” shared Alexander Nanan Kwestie Agyenim-Boateng, a manager at the Ghana Atomic Energy Commission, who attended the Nuclear Energy Management School.
Another educational initiative organized by the Rosatom Technical Academy and the IAEA was a training course on small modular reactors (SMRs). The course was attended by 27 professionals from 17 countries in Africa, Asia, Europe, and Latin America. As part of the program, the attendees visited the shipyard where the Akademik Lomonosov floating nuclear power plant was built.
“The course offered a comprehensive overview of existing SMR technologies, global trends, and best practices, as well as a deep understanding of IAEA safety standards and risk assessment approaches. Thanks to the close cooperation with the Rosatom Technical Academy, we were able to demonstrate real-world examples of SMR projects and their potential for various countries,” explained Alina Constantin, Leading Expert at the IAEA Nuclear Power Technology Development Section.
“Sudan is at the dawn of setting up its national nuclear program, and we are grateful for this invaluable learning opportunity. With this course, we gained a deep understanding of reactor technologies and safety fundamentals and also mastered valuable methodologies, particularly those for reactor technology assessment and those from the updated overview of IAEA safety standards. We eagerly await the upcoming publication by the Agency,” said one of the course attendees, nuclear engineer Asma Alfaki from the Sudanese Atomic Energy Commission.
Photo by: Rosatom Technical Academy
