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- Setting: Russia's scientific infrastructure will become the best in the world
Setting: Russia's scientific infrastructure will become the best in the world
In the next five to eight years, Russia's research infrastructure will become the best in the world. Vladimir Putin and Mikhail Kovalchuk, head of the Kurchatov Institute, talked about this at the meeting Mikhail Kovalchuk. According to the scientist, the technological breakthrough in the country will also accelerate the return home of domestic specialists, many of whom have worked in foreign scientific institutes since the 1990s. In addition to the ongoing development of nuclear technologies, among the main areas of work of the national research center are the development of agriculture, genetics, and the creation of unique mega-installations. Among the scientific developments of the Kurchatov Institute are prototypes of engines for deep space flights and a deep-sea manned vehicle. How in the Arctic provide heat supply and whether we can wait for an expedition to Mars - in the material "Izvestia".
On the contribution of the Kurchatov Institute in the development of nuclear energy
Vladimir Putin began his working week in the Kremlin: September 23, he met with the President of the Kurchatov Institute Mikhail Kovalchuk. The Institute was originally founded in 1943 to create Soviet atomic weapons, and now many unique scientific fields are being developed here. According to Mikhail Kovalchuk, a powerful interdisciplinary center of more than 20 institutes is gathered under the roof of the SIC.
- "Kurchatnik is no longer an institute, it is a whole agglomeration of various institutions, and it develops in a variety of ways and is engaged in almost all areas of research," said Vladimir Putin.
Президент РФ Владимир Путин во время встречи с президентом Национального исследовательского центра «Курчатовский институт» Михаилом Ковальчуком
Under the auspices of the Kurchatov Institute, a significant part of Russia's scientific potential in nuclear physics, energy, materials science, biology and genetics, as well as information technology is united. According to Mikhail Kovalchuk, today the center is actively engaged in "restoring order" in the Arctic using nuclear power, namely in providing heat supply in remote and hard-to-reach regions where there is no centralized power supply. We are talking about the Elena-AM project, a pilot nuclear thermoelectric power plant developed by the Kurchatov Institute.
- We are developing a fundamentally new nuclear power industry. We have the Elena station, a factory-built "battery" that produces up to a megawatt of electricity and up to 15 MW of heat. But in the Arctic, where there are no large consumers, where it is impossible to make either a grid structure or a large station, these local stations just solve the problem, - Mikhail Kovalchuk specified.
The development of the nuclear complex invariably remains the central vector of the Kurchatov Institute's work: back in 2007, Russia declared that it was ready to close the nuclear cycle, make it completely safe and fully meet the world's energy consumption, the experts recalled.
Президент Национального исследовательского центра «Курчатовский институт» Михаил Ковальчук во время встречи с президентом РФ Владимиром Путиным
As for nuclear energy in general, the development of a new direction of fast neutron reactors is of particular importance now. Their difference is that they use spent nuclear fuel of thermal reactors, in turn generating fuel for them, thus closing the nuclear cycle, said Vladimir Reshetov, Professor at the Institute of Laser and Plasma Technologies of MEPhI National Research Nuclear University.
- Today this development is already being realized at the engineering level, and we are ready to provide energy to the whole world by burning 238th uranium. The fast neutron reactor is the future of all nuclear energy," he says.
In general, Mikhail Kovalchuk singled out several main directions, among them - power engineering and materials science.
- We have only two priorities, or rather three, but two main ones. The first one is that any human thought that has arisen in the head materializes in the form of materials. You come up with a painting, for example - you need paints, canvas, easel and so on. You have thought up a melody - you need a piano, a musical instrument, notes, ink. So any thing is a material, and to create a material you need energy," he said.
- And the soul? - Vladimir Putin asked.
- And the third priority is the soul and intellect, absolutely right. That's it. These three, which we possess, I think, are among the best in the world, because if we didn't know how to do this, we wouldn't have gone into space and we wouldn't have created nuclear power in the shortest possible time. These are two breakthrough projects of the twentieth century, where we have always been leaders. Therefore, I think that our situation today is good," Mikhail Kovalchuk replied.
On nature-like technologies and the quantum network
An important direction of science development in Russia will be the restart of fundamental research. This is especially relevant against the background of scientists returning to their homeland after the European Center for Nuclear Research (CERN) ended its cooperation with them. "And in this sense, we have every opportunity for a technological breakthrough," Mikhail Kovalchuk emphasized.
Other priority areas of the Kurchatov Institute include the development of nature-like technologies and the genetic program. Mikhail Kovalchuk touched upon the programs for the development of agriculture. In particular, in this sector, the Russian Federation needs to stop depending on large Western corporations for the creation and maintenance of genetic material for food production, Pavel Volchkov, Head of the Laboratory of Genome Engineering at MIPT, explained to Izvestia.
- This is especially noticeable in the production of chicken meat and eggs. There is less dependence in crop production, especially in the cultivation of sugar beet. For some areas it is still possible to import genetic material, despite the sanctions. For others, where, for example, complex hybrids are needed, it is no longer available. At the same time, for effective agriculture it is necessary not only to maintain the gene pool, but also to improve it. Therefore, the development of genetic technologies and the creation of new varieties has become a matter of survival for the country today," said Pavel Volchkov.
Also, Russian scientists working at the Kurchatov Institute are developing neuromorphic microelectronics and quantum network as part of the network research infrastructure, said the head of the scientific center.
- We are engaged in fundamentally new neuromorphic microelectronics. Today we have concentrated almost all, almost 100% of the network infrastructure for science, the entire supercomputer part, all networks - 20 thousand kilometers of networks, uniting hundreds of scientific institutes and universities, - added the scientist.
According to Igor Pivovarov, chief analyst of the MIPT Center for Artificial Intelligence, the creation of neuromorphic computing networks opens up great prospects for the development of more powerful computers.
- Modern software artificial neural networks (ANNs) are a mathematical model of brain neurons connected in large arrays. But they are still counted on ordinary processors. If we make the processors themselves on the principle of neuron, then they will be thousands of times faster. And if we make an assembly of such artificial neurons, i.e. combine them into a network, we will have a neuromorphic computer. Such a network is 1 thousand times faster and requires very little energy," he explained.
In addition, the program to create unique mega-installations across the country is in full swing, reminded the head of the "Kurchatov Institute". According to his estimates, in the next five to eight years Russia will have the world's best research infrastructure.
About space conquest
In addition, the National Research Center is developing plasma electrodeless engines for flights into deep space.
- Today we fly into space like Munchausen at the core. Our RD-180 engine worked for three hundred seconds, "gave a kick", and we flew along ballistic trajectories that we cannot influence. And we need to barrage, to get to the Moon," said Mikhail Kovalchuk.
Now, according to him, the Institute has prototypes of engines that provide a completely different thrust for the flight. For example - a lunar station on the principle of the Selena battery, Mikhail Kovalchuk noted. It is a self-regulating nuclear power plant based on the principles of direct energy conversion.
Ракетный двигатель РД-180 в цехе НПО «Энергомаш» в Московской области
- What is "direct conversion"? We turn the heat from the reactor into steam, and the steam turns the turbines. That's not direct. But direct - there are thermoelectric elements, a special substance. You surround the plant with these elements, and all the heat is directly converted into electricity," continued Mikhail Kovalchuk.
According to Andrei Ionin, corresponding member of the Russian Academy of Cosmonautics, the Kurchatov Institute's development of devices based on the principles of nuclear power engineering for use in space is absolutely necessary for the development of domestic cosmonautics.
- The Kurchatov Institute is working on a project of a nuclear power plant operating in space. It may have different names. The project began to be realized back in Soviet times, but the public phase started in 2009. A lot of time is needed for its realization, because it is a breakthrough technology. It should combine two areas that were previously developed in parallel: nuclear power and space exploration," said Andrei Ionin.
It is necessary for deep space exploration, including expeditions to Mars. The realization of the projects of "Kurchatov Institute" will give at least one third of the necessary development and research for a flight to this planet. With the help of atomic energy it will be possible to realize the operation of aircraft engines, support life support systems and carry out the production of everything necessary in orbit. The project of the lunar station "Selena" looks very promising in this context, the expert emphasized.
About the study of depths and a unique simulator
Kurchatov Institute specialists have also developed a deep-sea manned vehicle that can be used to monitor the condition of pipelines laid at depth, on the seabed, said Mikhail Kovalchuk. Recall that in September 2023, Vladimir Putin spoke about attacks on the "Turkish Stream" and "Blue Stream", through which Russia supplies gas to Turkey, at a meeting with his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
The state-of-the-art device is designed for two people and descends to 2.2 kilometers, while a teleoperated device that explores the seabed has also been developed. Kovalchuk explained in detail how it will work: "We have made a unique simulator, a complete simulation, you sit in this cabin, you descend, a complete simulation of diving. The simulator is a completely unique thing.
- I went down to 2 km in Baikal. 1.9 km," the President recalled. - At this depth, I think, you can't see anything in the Black Sea. Hydrogen sulfide environment.
Vladimir Putin has had several such dives: in 2009, while still serving as Prime Minister of the Russian Federation, he made a four-hour dive on the Mir-1 apparatus to the bottom of Lake Baikal. In 2019 - in a bathyscaphe to the bottom of the Gulf of Finland, to the site of the wreck of a submarine sunk during the Great Patriotic War. The dive lasted about 30 minutes in the autonomous deep-sea submersible "C-Explorer 3.11".
