The participant of the CASE-IN championship is recognized as the "Person of the Year"

In July, the names of the winners of the Rosatom Man of the Year 2021 contest became known. Among them is the head of the Laboratory of Technology and Processes of Solidification of Radioactive Waste at the V.G. Khlopin Radium Institute JSC and concurrently an assistant at the Department of Electrotechnological and Transformational Engineering (ETPT) at St. Petersburg State Technical University LETI Ilya Skrigan, who participated in the League of Young Specialists of the International Engineering Championship "CASE-IN".

At the ceremony at the International House of Music, the best nuclear scientists of the country were awarded in 41 divisional, 12 corporate and 9 special nominations. A special prize was also awarded to the Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Rosatom State Corporation.

Alexey Likhachev, CEO of Rosatom State Corporation, opened the event with a welcoming speech.: "Traditionally, today we honor the best employees of the Rosatom State Corporation. A little over 12 months have passed since our last meeting, but how many events have happened during that time. The external agenda has changed dramatically, but two factors have remained unchanged: production records and the dedication with which nuclear industry specialists continue to do their work. Today, a ceremony will be held in this hall honoring those who have made the maximum contribution to the overall treasury of Rosatom's achievements in 2021. We will repeat the word "for the first time" many times, which has firmly taken root and has become a stable definition of our activities.".

Travel agent Ilya Skrigan took the third place in the nomination "Young Scientist". Under the guidance of Ilya Nikolaevich developed and tested a glazing unit for liquid radioactive waste at the radiochemical plant of Siberian Chemical Combine JSC in Seversk. This development secured the conclusion of an international contract between Techsnabexport and EDF (France) in the amount of 1 billion dollars in 2021.

The installation is an electric furnace with induction heating, in which liquid radioactive waste generated during the processing of regenerated uranium is vitrified. The vitrification process takes place at temperatures up to 1200 degrees. "The storage of radioactive waste in liquid form in our country is prohibited by law. One of the key requirements for the implementation of this international project is the curing of radioactive waste generated during the processing into a borosilicate glass matrix. To solve this problem, we have developed this installation.», – explains the developer.

Thanks to the technology being implemented, liquid radioactive waste is sealed into the glass structure and, due to its solid state of aggregation, becomes safe for the environment.

Also at the Department of ETPT Ilya Skrigan has developed a set of mathematical models and a methodology for its application to create industrial equipment for the vitrification of high-activity radioactive waste (HW) by induction melting in cold crucibles. This calculation complex was tested during the creation of experimental equipment at the V. G. Khlopin Radium Institute JSC and during the design of the industrial glazing furnace of the VAO for the experimental demonstration center of FSUE GCK.

In addition, the young scientist participated in the development and testing of experimental vitrification and fibration stands, created in 2021 for a multifunctional radiochemical research complex as part of the comprehensive state program "Development of engineering, technology and scientific research in the field of atomic energy use in the Russian Federation for the period up to 2024." Currently Ilya Nikolaevich teaches at the Department of ETPT at St. Petersburg State University "LETI", is the head of the practice of students undergoing internships at the V.G. Khlopin Radium Institute JSC, and in 2021 successfully defended his thesis for the degree of Candidate of Technical Sciences on the topic "Experimental and numerical studies for the development of an industrial furnace for vitrification of highly radioactive waste by induction melting in a cold crucible."

"Winning this competition for me is a confirmation that the scientific research conducted by me and my team is really necessary and useful. This is very motivating for further development. I would like to note that for me, a victory is also a successful defense of my PhD thesis, because without it I would hardly have become the "Person of the Year"., - Assistant of the Department of ETPT of St. Petersburg State Technical University "LETI" Ilya Skrigan.

Also Ilya Nikolaevich said that the scientific authorities and reference points for him are Dmitry Borisovich Lopukh, Associate Professor of the ETPT Department, and V.G. Khlopin Radium Institute, Chief Researcher at the Department of Applied Radiochemistry Albert Semenovich Aloy. They inspire the young scientist with their deep knowledge in technical scientific fields, life and professional experience.  

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