UK-Russia Closed Nuclear Cities Partnership

  Study Tour to Great Britain
  Training Course at De Montfort University
  The course "Manager-professional"
  Oxford Study Tour
  Scotland Study Tour
  Water Jet Systems Training
  Workshop in Tomsk
  Workshop in Nizhny Novgorod

Water Jet Systems Training

Title

Training at the University of Hanover for staff from the All Russian Scientific and Research Centre for Technical Physics (VNIITF) from the Closed Nuclear City of Snezhinsk using western technology related to high-pressure water jet systems. The training is part of a larger project to undertake marketing research and business plan development for hydroabrasive cutting equipment technology being developed by VNIITF scientists for nuclear submarine decommissioning.

Objectives

Further the development of the All Russian Scientific and Research Institute for Technical Physics' (VNIITF) basic hydroabrasive cutting equipment set and technically adapting it for nuclear submarine decommissioning. The training project contributes towards this objective by helping to ensure that the staff who make the key decisions on the design of the new water jet system have access to the latest western technology and training.
Provide an operational demonstration of VNIITF's new technology, which could lead to the creation of a number of new civil sector sustainable jobs at VNIITF.
If the technology is successfully demonstrated, it could potentially increase the rate of decommissioning of Russian nuclear submarines. It could also reduce the risk to human life and the environment; current methods of decommissioning are hazardous to the workforce and lead to the dispersal of large amounts of heavy metals into the environment as aerosols.

Summary

The training will take place in Hanover, Germany at the University of Hanover's Institut fur Werkstoffkunde in the Laboratory of Professor Hartmut Louis. The Institut has a department specializing in water jetting technology. CNCP has arranged for a technical team from VNIITF to visit the University and the laboratory where Professor Louis and his colleagues will demonstrate their technologies and train VNIITF specialists. The training will help VNIITF scientists to optimise the design of their system.

The DTI has provided a grant to VNIITF to conduct additional market research and further develop a business plan in support of VNIITF's efforts to produce a basic hydroabrasive cutting equipment set and technically adapt it for nuclear submarine decommissioning. VNIITF is developing this new technology which would be used to remove rubber cladding from a submarine's outer surface and cut through the pressure vessel, which makes up the hull of the submarine. The British government has made a large commitment to Russian nuclear submarine decommissioning under the G-8 Global Partnership and this project could increase the rate of the decommissioning process while creating new jobs for VNIITF scientists and technicians.