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Get acquainted with Kurchatov
Kurchatov is the satellite town of the Semipalatinsk nuclear test site where the first Soviet atomic and hydrogen bombs were
tested. It can be said without exaggeration that this is a town with a unique history and unique people.
HistoryIt would be difficult to find a town, which despite its relatively short history, has had so many different names: Mountain Station of the First Main Department, Object No 905, Military Section 52605, Моscow-400, Final Station, Semipalatinsk-21, Degelen and, finally, Kurchatov. The decision to establish a nuclear test site here was taken in August 1947 and the first Soviet atomic bomb was tested two year later. Despite severe climatic conditions, the complete absence of any infrastructure and various other difficulties, a town sprang up within a very short time in the midst of the arid Kazakhstan Steppe on the banks of the river Irtysh. In accordance with its mission, the level of education was very high (some 70% of the inhabitants of the town were specialists with higher education, obtained in the best educational institutions of the Soviet Union), and provisions were excellent (for example, fresh strawberries were brought in for the shops in winter by aircraft). On the other hand life went on under the most severe conditions of secrecy. Here worked Academicians Kurchatov, Khariton, Sakharov, Zeldovich, Keldysh and others from among the outstanding figures of Soviet science. Through the efforts of the specialists a unique scientific and technical base was established in the town within a very short space of time. In its prime, the town consisted of about 50 thousand people. This may not seem very many, but the work involved was of enormous significance in that Kurchatov controlled the territory of one of the largest nuclear test sites in the World, with an area of 18,500 square kilometres! Over a period of 40 years, 470 nuclear tests were carried out here. All of Kurchatov’s enterprises worked for the military industrial complex, through contracts which kept the town constantly busy. But times change! In 1991 on the order of the President of the Soviet Republic of Kazakhstan, Nursultan Nazarbaev, the test site was closed. And a new and difficult period in the life of Kurchatov town began ... National Nuclear Centre of the Republic of KazakhstanMany different opinions exist with regard to the test site. However, one fact is beyond dispute: the production of nuclear weapons and delivery systems always involves scientific and technical breakthroughs across the widest spectrum of applied activities, and also generates many high level scientific inventions and technologies, with weighty and often unique potential for civil sector production and services. Understanding this, in the difficult days of the early 1990s the President and Government took the only correct decision: to preserve the scientific and technical potential of the Semipalatinsk nuclear test site by organising, in 1992, the National Nuclear Centre of the Republic of Kazakhstan (NNC-RK). The Centre’s basic tasks were to work in the field of radiation safety and ecology, to carry out studies relating to the disposal and storage of radioactive waste, and to pursue developments in nuclear technology and nuclear energy. Four subsidiary institutes emerged, reflecting the NNC’s basic activities:
The NNC was set up in very difficult conditions. Fate seemed to be testing people’s endurance. The departure of the military, which had supported the whole infrastructure of the town, coincided with a very cold winter. As a result, the town was left without heating in conditions of minus forty degrees! The result was abandoned houses, smoking pipes sticking out of windows and other signs of collapse. But the town survived ... Despite the financial difficulties and the other problems faced at the time, NNC followed the difficult but correct path of building itself up step by step, increasing the scale of work and the spectrum of key functions and actively collaborating with international companies and organisations. As a result, the NNC has now become the largest and most authoritative scientific and research organisation in the field of atomic energy in Kazakhstan. Alongside their traditional areas of activity, NNC specialists are also striving to master such fields as nuclear medicine and biophysics, the synthesis of super heavy elements, the creation of a Kazakhstan materials research tokamak and the construction of Kazakhstan’s first nuclear power plant. Understanding the relevance today of innovation activities, NNC specialists laid the foundations for and carried out the first stage of the establishment of the Kurchatov «Park of Nuclear Technologies» (PNT). The PNT infrastructure is now practically completed, an electronic accelerator has been brought into service and, using it, pilot production has begun of cross-linked spun polyethelene covering materials. The «Park of Nuclear Technologies»The basic task of the «Park of Nuclear Technologies» today is to create a modern production and financial infrastructure for the development of nuclear technologies and to attract and launch high technology inventions and knowledge intensive companies. With project documentation completed and a start made with the construction of the main complexes (administration and production, radiation technology, and nuclear energy technology), the Technopark today already possesses a modern infrastructure capable of facilitating scientific research and the establishment of new production units. CNCPThe difficulties involved in commercialisation and the lack of experience of NNC specialists already became apparent when the idea of the Technopark emerged. Just at that point, and in a very timely manner, the opportunity arose for NNC to take part in the CNCP Programme. Collaboration developed at quite a rapid pace. It began with the signing of a memorandum of cooperation between CNCP and NNC in Almaty in October 2004. In May of the following year a working meeting of specialists from СNCP and NNC was held in Kurchatov. This coincided with the finalisation of the technical and economic assessment of the project to create the PNT. After this first meeting with the institutes in Kurchatov an evaluation of project proposals included in the development plan of the PNT was carried out by CNCP. The basic aims of the collaboration between CNCP and PNT were defined as the training of NNC staff in methods for commercialising discoveries, carrying out market research, preparing business plans and other entrepreneurial skills, and, thereafter, direct assistance with the implementation of innovation projects. CNCP used the mechanism of the International Science and Technology Centre (ISTC) for financing projects. Market research and business planning for the first three innovation projects began in 2006. In all, grants were provided for market research and the preparation of business plans for 18 projects. Some of these were intended to be carried out within the institutes, some as spin out companies with state ownership (with state resources accounting for at least 33% of the founding capital) and some in the form of private spin out companies. The research carried out showed that most of the projects had good prospects, but then we ran into difficulties. For both objective and subjective reasons a great deal of time was lost and at the time of writing, only one project, from the Institute of Radiological Safety and Ecology, is underway, with agreements for a further two projects from the Institute of Atomic Energy under preparation. Among the barriers encountered were a cautious, and at times negative, attitude towards the organisation of spin out companies, and the notorious human factor, mental inertia. Many specialists were not interested in the results of innovation activities, simply seeing it as extra work and nothing more. These people preferred to do what they were used to, to work on Government orders receiving stable, albeit modest, salaries for work which did not involve extra responsibilities. But situations change. Interest in innovation and commercial activities has increased significantly, especially among young people, and this, in large part, is due precisely to the CNCP Programme. Here it is worth reminding ourselves of the second aim of collaboration with CNCP – the training of staff in skills relating to business management and the management of intellectual property. This area of CNCP activity includes a whole system of seminars, continuing exchange of experience, training in business English, the organization of meetings with Western specialists, and the establishment of new contacts. With support from the Programme, a significant number of members of staff of the institutes have taken British Open University courses: 42 individuals have taken the “Professional Management” course and 22 have completed the diploma course on “Change Management”. These people have become the promoters of a new relationship towards research, the exploitation of inventions and commercialisation - and this all generates optimism! Yuri Logachev, | |
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