Although the Ignalina nuclear plant has been closed since 2009, Lithuania will need nuclear engineering professionals for several decades. The knowledge and experience connected to nuclear energy field, especially related to security issues will be always on demand.
“Although security is crucial in any industry, it is of upmost importance in nuclear energy field. After Chernobyl and Fukushima tragedies it became more than clear that we have to ensure the safe functioning of nuclear plants and to work on improving reliable nuclear technologies every day. This is our responsibility”, says Takao Kurihara, the General Manager at Hitachi Global Nuclear Engineering Development Centre.
This autumn, Mr Kurihara together with his colleagues delivered a series of seminars on nuclear energy at Kaunas University of Technology (KTU) Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences.
According to the participants of the seminar – researchers, professionals and students of nuclear energy field – the researchers working in the field are the initiators of all progress and innovations. For example, in order to ensure safety while designing and using nuclear plants, it is necessary to foresee all possible events and sequences. For this reason, computing programmes and codes are being created, which assist in evaluating all the risks and faults.
Mr Kurihara and his team has been collaborating with KTU for several years. In the annual seminars they introduce their experience and new ideas in the nuclear energy field. In the future, he is planning to expand the existing partnership into the state level.
“We would like to expand the collaboration beyond the university level. We see the perspective of creating new industries, educating scientists, technicians and engineers”, says Mr Kurihara, the professional from Hitachi, who was reading lectures at KTU.
