BUT establishes cooperation with Indian universities in the field of nuclear energy

The Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Communication Technologies hosted the Czech-Indian Christmas Workshop called “InCzechNuc2022” from 19 to 22 December, focusing on cooperation in science, research and education in nuclear energy and applied nuclear physics. The workshop was held under the auspices of the Czech Ambassador to India, Ms. Eliška Žigová, PhD, and the Indian Ambassador to the Czech Republic, Mr. Shri Hemant Harishchandra Kotalwar. The objective of the workshop was to expand the cooperation between BUT and other countries in the field of nuclear energy. The Dean of the Faculty, Mr. Vladimir Aubrecht signed Memorandum of Cooperation with three other Indian Universities - Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh; University of Rajasthan, Jaipur and Netaji Subhas University of Technology, Dwarka, New Delhi. Thanks to this new cooperation, the number of universities the BUT is collaborating with in the nuclear field has increased to five.

The cooperation, which has been formalised by signing aforementioned declaration, is mainly in the field of science and research and targets PhD students, post-doctoral fellows and academicians. The joint research focuses on nuclear reactions towards the possible disposal of hazardous spent nuclear fuel, i.e. potentially highly active and long-lived radioactive waste. Their research also touches on nuclear reactions for future fusion nuclear reactors.

Thanks to the signed declaration, the PhD students and researchers will be able to use the accelerator infrastructure of Indian universities and institutes, including the TIFR Pelletron in Mumbai and IUAC in Delhi, the VECC cyclotron in Kolkata and at the FOTIA tandem. Under the already running cooperation between BUT and MSU Baroda, joint proposal for an experiment at the SSC accelerator at iThembaLABS was submitted, which is characterised by the highest energy output of any quasi-neutron source in the world. The joint experiment should start this year.