European Nuclear Society
e-news Issue 43 Winter 2014
http://www.euronuclear.org/e-news/e-news-43/SNUS.htm

Nuclear veterans - old, but still active

Slovak Nuclear Society’s (SNUS) “Seniors in Nuclear” section shows its creative potential.

Though they may be older, retired veterans of the nuclear power industry are still very active and represent a precious source of know-how. Their knowledge and experience has been (and should remain) a vital resource for our nuclear society; one that ensures continuity in relation to the safe and reliable exploitation of nuclear energy.

So, in May 2010, veterans of the nuclear industry in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) formed the International Union of Veterans of Nuclear Energy and Industry (IUVNEI - in Russian MSVAEP). The Union unites national and corporate organizations of nuclear veterans from CEE countries with a nuclear programme. Membership of IUVNEI is voluntary. IUVNEI’s headquarters are in Moscow. The largest number of IUVNEI members is from Russia - 8 veteran organizations in total, with 12 000,000 members. According to IUVNEI’s statutes, in Russia every person who has worked for a number of years in the nuclear power industry automatically qualifies as a veteran.

Participants of 9^th IUVNEI Central Committee meeting at residency of the Head of Trnava County and president of the Slovak Nuclear Forum Tibor Mikuš, in Trnava

So far, the following countries have joined Russia in IUVNEI: Armenia, Bulgaria, Hungary, Finland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Ukraine. All these countries have VVER units in operation, although they have far less members than the Russian Federation.

IUVNEI Chairman is Oleg Sarayev, former Director of the Beloyarskaya NPP and a former Director of Rosenergoatom. The representative of the Slovak Nuclear Society, (which is one of IUVNEI’s founder members), who is also IUVNEI’s Vice-chairman, is Jozef Valovič, previously Secretary General of SNUS.

From 21 – 23 October 2013, IUVNEI’s Central Committee met in Slovakia, in Trnava and Bratislava. It was the ninth such meeting since IUVNEI’s foundation in 2010 and the second to take place in Slovakia. During the meeting the Slovak Nuclear Forum, representing the Slovak nuclear industry, and its President, Tibor Mikuš, became members too. Participants discussed the activities of national and corporate members since the previous meeting and made plans for future activities.

Among the things that veteran organizations from different countries have in common are the desire to preserve acquired experience and past know-how relating to nuclear power, to make it available to a new generation of nuclear professionals and to avoid repeating the mistakes made during the “pioneer era” of nuclear development. Important too is IUVNEI’s cooperation with the WANO Moscow Centre. Within this context veteran experts from Slovakia participated in peer review missions at Smolenskaya NPP, Rostovskaya NPP and Kurskaya NPP JE. Through these activities IUVNEI confirms its place and the role that it plays in nuclear veterans’ lives.

President of the Slovak Nuclear Forum Tibor Mikuš greeting the Central Committee meeting participants (from left Yuri Saraev, Tibor Mikuš, Jozef Valovič, Evgeniy Akimov)

Czechoslovakia, as it was called then, was a nuclear power pioneer and Juraj Kmošena and Jozef Keher were awarded commemorative medals marking this fact by Rosatom.
Among the events organized during the veterans’ meeting were an exhibition of paintings of contemporary artists from the ‘nuclear area’ of Trnava, and a concert of the 60-strong Nikolay Nekrasov Academic orchestra, which plays regularly on Russian radio and Slovak TV in Bratislava. The event, which got an enthusiastic response, was sponsored by Russia’s state-owned nuclear corporation Rosatom.

IUVNEI is open to all nuclear veterans. You can find more information about how to join us at: Поройков Сергеевич <poroykov-vs@rosenergoatom.ru> or Jozef Valovic <jozef7@yahoo.com>

By Juraj Kmošena, “Seniors in Nuclear” of the Slovak Nuclear Society

© European Nuclear Society, 2014