Published on: 2026-06-23
Source: Saint Petersburg Polytechnic University of Peter the Great –
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In the Saint Petersburg branch of JSC “Atomenergoproekt,” a leading laboratory “Computational Modeling of Processes and AES Systems: Virtual Power Unit” was opened. The ceremony was attended by representatives of the Concern “Rosenergoatom,” JSC “Breakthrough,” “Atomenergoproekt,” and three universities preparing nuclear engineers: Saint Petersburg Polytechnic University of Peter the Great, the National Research University “MEI,” and Nizhny Novgorod State Technical University named after R. E. Alekseev.The event included a visit to the laboratory, acquaintance with the operation of the virtual power unit (VPU), and a session “Flagship laboratory of the national project: partnership for technological leadership”.
Addressing the event participants, Natalya Ilyina, Director of Management for Scientific-Technical Programs and Projects at the State Corporation “Rosatom,” emphasized: This is already the second base laboratory that Rosatom is opening within the framework of the national project “New Atomic and Energy Technologies.” If the first laboratory was devoted to robotic solutions for the new energy sector, then this site forms the digital contour of engineers’ work designing facilities.Its key theme is calculations, computer modeling of processes and systems of nuclear power plants, virtual power unit technologies, digital twins and modern tools for designing and operating complex energy facilities. The platform serves as an environment for network interaction, where the competencies of technology developers, industrial partners and universities are combined. It is here, with modern domestic equipment and in solving real engineering tasks, that the future scientific and engineering leaders of the country must be formed.Such cooperation creates a personnel reserve for achieving technological leadership — a national goal set by the President of Russia.
In the assembly hall, the first deputy general director — the chief engineer of the United Design Institute JSC “Atomenergoproekt” Konstantin Ilyinsky greeted the guests: Cooperation with the Ministry of Science and Higher Education has been ongoing for a long time. For us, this event is an opportunity to meet, discuss current problems, and share new ideas. The task before us and the universities is not only to train specialists but also to ensure their maximum immersion in the current activities of enterprises and participation in solving pressing industry issues. And this needs to be done already at the student’s desk.The support laboratory, among other things, addresses these tasks. We hope that it will give an additional boost to the development of our relationships and the training of personnel for atomic energy.
Partners of the support laboratory participated in the panel discussion. The Deputy Director for Technical Policy of Atomproekt, Director for Safety Justification Igor Magola, emphasized: Computational competence is the foundation of project activities. The virtual power unit helps connect several levels of work: justification of design solutions, safety verification, regime analysis, comparison of calculation codes, and training of young specialists. It is important that a student or young engineer sees not an abstract task, but the connection of calculations with design logic. For Atomenergoproekt, this is a doubly important result.First — applied: we get an environment where it is possible to accurately work through calculation cases and reduce the cost and time of justifications through digital modeling before physical testing. Second — personnel: collaboration with universities provides an influx of trained calculants who already possess the tools used in the industry.
The Director of Personnel Management and Social Policy of the Rosenergoatom Concern, Sergey Gudin, talked about what kind of university graduates are expected at the enterprise: For the operating organization, the key issue is the quality of specialist training, who will be assigned to the facility or to the support contour of operation. We need graduates who understand not only the calculated scheme, but also the real modes of operation of nuclear power plants, equipment limitations, cause-and-effect relationships, and safety culture. The digital model is very useful in this sense.It does not replace the station, but allows for safely disassembling modes, seeing the consequences of engineering decisions, asking questions and making mistakes in the training environment, not on the real object. This reduces the adaptation gap between graduation and real work. The concern is ready to participate in formulating competency requirements and in evaluating training results. For us, the laboratory should be not only an educational platform, but also an environment where the future specialist gets accustomed in advance to engineering responsibility and to communication with operational reality.
University representatives shared their vision of their contribution to the laboratory’s work and their expectations from cooperation. In particular, the Vice-Rector for Educational Activities of SPbPU Lyudmila Pankova noted: For the Polytechnic University, the supporting laboratory is primarily an educational and methodological framework. We see our role in linking industry tasks with educational programs, network modules, additional professional education, and students’ and postgraduates’ research work. Polytechnic’s contribution is a methodological assembly.A unified database for training among partner universities is needed: common learning outcomes, comparable tasks, clear assessment criteria, methodological materials for practicums on the WEB. Without such a database, network interaction will be difficult to scale.
Network programs allow combining the strong points of different universities. One university may be stronger in computational methods, another in energy equipment, and a third in operational logic or applied mathematics. The laboratory provides a common environment where these competencies come together around real industry tasks.
Graduation qualification works and dissertations have a separate significance. The topics should be connected with the tasks of the enterprise, not formed in isolation. Then the student goes through a path from an academic assignment to an engineering setup, and the enterprise receives a motivated candidate familiar with the tools and project culture.
Lyudmila Pankova emphasized the importance of internships for teachers. The vice-rector is confident: if a teacher understands current industry requirements, they structure the discipline and practicum differently. Therefore, the laboratory should become not only a student environment but also a teacher environment for updating competencies.
With reports concerning computer modeling, the use of it as a tool for a virtual power unit, personnel policy, and other industry issues, representatives of “Atomenergoproekt”, the Concern “Rosenergoatom”, JSC “Proryv”, SPbPU, NIU MEI and NGTU spoke. As a result of the discussion of various aspects of the functioning of the support laboratory, the participants came to the conclusion that it is indispensable as a working mechanism where the industry order turns into calculative tasks, educational programs and the training of specialists.Enterprises need students who understand how to solve assigned tasks and work with tools for analysis and decision-making. And for this, experience is needed, which can be gained in a support laboratory. Thus, the virtual energy unit should become a common computational and educational environment where enterprise tasks are embedded in an educational agenda, universities receive clear rules of network interaction, and graduates leave university as competent specialists ready for engineering work.
The culmination of the meeting was the ceremonial signing of a cooperation agreement by the participants of the reference laboratory “Computational Modeling of Processes and Systems of Nuclear Power Plants: Virtual Power Unit.”
The laboratory specializes in computational modeling of processes and systems of nuclear power plants (NPPs) — one of the priority directions of digital transformation in modern nuclear energy. Its key element is the software complex “Virtual NPP Unit”: a set of software tools and computational codes allowing modeling of the operation of equipment and systems of a power unit, conducting multiphysics calculations, and analyzing various modes of operation of a nuclear power plant.
The site of the educational and experimental laboratory base will become the Polytechnic. By 2030, more than 1000 students will be trained there. Eight higher education programs, distance learning courses, teacher training, and international educational projects will be implemented.
After the ceremony, the session participants visited the pilot laboratory and saw the virtual power unit in operation.
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