OREANDA-NEWS. July 2, 2007. Third-year students of St.Petersburg Technological University visited Leningrad NPP. We met in the sanitary inspection room. Almost 30 students and their teachers in whites, helmets and plastic shoes were inspecting the scheme with a 1000 MW graphite-uranium reactor. The engineering of the Information Department Marina Zdor was telling them about the technological processes and was answering their questions. Then the students proceeded to the “prototypes.” A couple of hours later, when coming out of the plant, future engineers Konstantin Lisin, Pavel Levashov, Anton Loginov, Vladislav Dementyev and Yevgeny Starshinov told about themselves and their impressions of the visit.

— What is your profession? How were the summer sessions? Which exam was the hardest?

— Our profession is Radio-ecology and technology of radioactive matters. This summer we had five exams. The hardest one of Physical Chemistry: Processes and Systems.

— Formerly the hardest subject of the third year was Resistance of Materials. They even said: once you have passed the exam you can get married…

— Yes, we know that. Today this saying sounds a bit differently: once you have passed Processes you can date a girl, once you have passed Resistance you can marry her. Resistance of Materials is easier than Physical Chemistry.

— Wasn’t it boring to visit NPP? Cables, pieces of iron everywhere. Don’t you feel lost here?

— Once you take the bearings, it takes you. To be an engineer does not mean just to push buttons. If you realize what you are doing and what is going to come of it, the selfsame Resistance and Processes may get quite interesting.

— I think engineer is not popular profession today, is it?

— It depends. If you work for money only, it is, but if you like your profession you can make the best of it.

— What future does nuclear energy have?

— The future of nuclear energy is in our hands. That’s exactly why we are in the Technical University: we want to develop our industry and nuclear power engineering. It is young but it has a huge potential: we are going to build new stronger reactors, which will produce more energy. Nuclear energy will certainly grow.

— It is young but it also has a past that has curbed its development. You were born after Chernobyl. What does it mean to you?

— We are of the same age with Chernobyl: we were born in 1986–1987. We think that the consequences of that accident have had positive effect as well: we have acquired experience, we have drawn conclusions, we have taken measures to enhance our safety. Today, we have learned how important it is to be highly