A Memorandum of Understanding has been signed by the University of Bristol and the Institute for Safety Problems of Nuclear Power Plants National Academy of Science of Ukraine (ISP NPP NASU) to establish a long-term cooperative relationship.
This Memorandum of Understanding will allow for knowledge exchange through visits between the two organisations and cooperation on shared areas of interest. These include research challenges in areas including: robotics, radioactive waste characterization and management, and graphite reactor core inspection.
This agreement follows several visits by University of Bristol researchers to the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone in Ukraine. The most recent of these was in October 2020, where the team deployed a Boston Dynamics Spot robot inside the New Safe Confinement. Other fieldtrips focused on the use of unmanned aerial and ground robots to develop advanced radiation mapping techniques.
University of Bristol
The University of Bristol was ranked number one in the UK for nuclear research in the 2013 Witty report on university research, innovation, and growth. Since 2016 it has been home to the South West Nuclear Hub, which provides a single front door for civil nuclear research, innovation and skills in the south west of the UK, bringing together a strategic alliance of academic, industrial and governmental members.
Institute for Safety Problems of Nuclear Power Plants National Academy of Science of Ukraine (ISP NPP NASU)
ISP NPP has unique technical expertise and capabilities linked with Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant (ChNPP), the accident on the Unit 4 of ChNPP on April 1986, ChNPP’s radioactive waste management and ChNPP site decommissioning and its transformation into ecological safe state.