Nuclear waste recycling: Tomsk students on the international MediaTek Championship

We are continuing the Point of Knowledge project. Today we will talk about the championship for students, where they solve real business problems. Anastasia Rif, a student at Tomsk Polytechnic University, and her team have won the ECO-CASE and MediaTek special league competitions for two years in a row.  Both events were held as part of the CASE-IN International Engineering Championship.

The principle of tasks in all these competitions is the same: in 10 days, a team of 3-4 people solves the real problem of companies in the fuel and energy and mineral resource complexes.

Anastasia is studying at the specialty "nuclear power plants: design, operation and engineering". In the future, she will be able to work in any company in the nuclear industry and beyond. She chose an atypical profession for a girl because she was interested in physics at school and decided that nuclear power was the most modern and relevant industry.

"I wanted to participate in the CAC-IN first of all because it's interesting. In the classroom, they teach us theory, there is no practice as such, but here you see the real problems of companies, and you can solve them yourself. Perhaps we will face the same tasks at work in the future," the student said.

The girls' team

"We have worked well together for two years — in the special ECO-CASE league and then at MediaTek. It's not often that you see teams consisting only of girls at the championships. We managed not only to perform well, but also to win twice," said the student.

Last year, Anastasia's AVA team proposed an ECO-CASE solution for reprocessing spent nuclear fuel – laser cutting of fuel assemblies and fuel elements.

"We have proposed a case study on how to prepare fuel for any processing. In the final, the idea was improved and a robotic laser cutting system was already presented," the girl clarified.

The girls' team was among the winners. Additional points for participating in the competition allowed the students to apply for an increased scholarship. In addition, each was awarded a certificate for 50,000 rubles for distance learning courses at the Bauman Moscow State Technical University.

About the glass ceiling

This year, the girls in the same composition participated in the competitions of the MediaTek student League.  This time they had to make a rating of the companies of the fuel and energy complex, the most attractive for graduates. The criteria had to be determined by ourselves.

At the defense in Moscow, experts raised the issue of a glass ceiling for women in the nuclear industry. The girls hinted at this during the defense: some positions are simply not available for the fair sex. To which the expert commission, consisting of eight women, said: "Valentina Tereshkova flew into space. You can achieve anything in life if you want to."

This year, the girls also became winners.

"Participating in MediaTek is a very interesting experience. Last year, due to the coronavirus pandemic, all protection was done using Zoom. This year we went to Moscow and performed live in front of the expert commission. It was also interesting to present my solution in a way that the experts liked, to present myself to the public," Anastasia shared with us.

The press service of Tomsk Polytechnic University also added that the opportunity to find a job became an additional motivation for students to participate in the championship leagues. Offers from companies can be received directly – at the venue, on career day as part of the championship finals. Participants can also send their CV to the organizers, who are already sending the Case-In to partner companies centrally. The internship can also be the prize fund of the championship.

The International Case-In Championship is being held in Tomsk as part of the regional project "Social Elevators for Everyone". It aims to provide opportunities for professional and career growth. The project is part of the national project "Education".

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