Kurchatov Institute Chief Calls ‘Nature-Like Technologies’ a New Technological Platform

In a wide-ranging interview, Mikhail Kovalchuk, the president of the National Research Center “Kurchatov Institute,” indicated Russia’s prowess in the area of nuclear technologies, and pointed out what he believed to be the new direction for research in the development of “nature-like technologies.”

“Until now,” he said, “we’ve studied humans as the pinnacle of nature, and then copied them in the form of complex technical systems. For example, microelectronic devices, which essentially have nothing in common with the brain. Or the hand: we’ve created an excavator, a grader, a crane—but the hand is still more advanced. Moreover, living systems are also energy-efficient. We live on biofuel cells: we eat, and this fuels reactions in our cells, which is enough to sustain us. That is why the transition from copying to biosimilarity is so important.”In the interview, Kovalchuk also underlined the key concept of “megascience” now underlying the efforts of Russia in the field of science and technology. In this respect, he noted the two “flagship” facilities, the PIK reactor, one of the world’s most powerful high-flux research reactors with a capacity of 100 MW, and the SILA laser facility built in Protvino near Moscow, which will combine fourth-generation synchrotron radiation and a free-electron laser in a single facility. In addition a new synchrotron is being built at the Kurchatov Institute and on Russky Island in Vladivostok.

Most significant is the [development of the SKIF facility in Novosibirsk, perhaps the most indicative of the “megascience” projects, comprising 34 buildings and structures which will ultimately involve 30 different experimental stations. SKIF is the first 4th generation+ synchrotron radiation source in Russia and the most powerful in the world. It allows scientists to look inside matter and obtain ultra-precise data on the structure of materials, living organisms, catalysts, and other objects. The brightness of its beams is approximately a trillion times greater than the brightness of the Sun’s surface.