On the second day of the meeting of the BRICS science delegations, which include delegates from India, Iran, Brazil, South Africa, China, and Kyrgyzstan, the president of the Kurchatov Institute, Mikhail Kovalchuk, introduced some of the work of the Institute to the visiting delegates. Speaking to them at the beginning of the event, Kovalchuk told the delegates, “"Today in the Russian Federation one of the most modern scientific fields in the world has actually been formed, prepared for the future science of the 21st century.”
Kovalchuk then went into a report of the work of the Institute in all the major areas of science, from crystallography to microelectronics. He laid stress on such areas of work of the Institute as the creation of new materials, microelectronics, high-energy and elementary particle physics, nuclear physics, and genetics.
A major area of work at Kurchatov is of course nuclear energy. Kovalchuk spoke of the new Elena reactor, which they have developed, which is a self-regulating reactor that can work for 20 years without maintenance. Heat generated from the reaction is converted to electricity by the installation. These will be ideal for difficult to reach locations like in the Arctic.
They have recently laid down a new icebreaker, the Leader, which can move quickly through ice as thick as three meters. They have also developed an underwater vehicle for monitoring pipelines and are working on an underwater drone.
