Last Tuesday (September 9), the Faculty of Nuclear Sciences and Physical Engineering at the Czech Technical University in Prague (FNSPE CTU) had hosted the official opening of the Nuclear Collaboration Center (NCC), established together with the KEPCO International Nuclear Graduate School (KINGS). The NCC strives to deliver educational courses not only to students but also to the workers in the technical field and the public and is currently operating at the Brno University of Technology (BUT), as well as at the Univeristy of Warsaw (UW, the administrator of this website). The support of joint research and the nuclear industry is also among the NCC goals.

The day began with a networking Nuclear Breakfast, followed by the morning programmme introduced by the Dean of the FNSPE CTU, doc. Ing. Václav Čuba, Ph.D. After that the formal signing ceremony between the Acting President of KINGS, Hak-Kyu Lim and the Dean of FNSPE was held under the auspices of the Korean Ambassador, Young-ki Hong and Lukáš Vlček, Minister of Industry and Trade of the Czech Republic.

Congratulatory speeches followed from distinguished guests, including Mr. Lukáš Vlček, the Ambassador of the Republic of Korea Mr. Hong, Mr. Tomáš Pojar (National Security Advisor), the Acting President of KINGS Mr. Lim, and Mr. Min-Cheol Lee from the Korea Nuclear Association (KNA).

Head of Department of Nuclear Reactors at FNSPE CTU Jan Rataj then presented the nuclear programs at CTU, as well as the role of KINGS and the newly established NCC.

The afternoon session was dedicated to a panel discussion addressing key challenges and opportunities in the nuclear sector such as attracting professionals from other fields, tackling the demographic challenge or the urgent need to attract young people and women. Among the speakers there were Tomáš Ehler (Director General of the Nuclear Energy and New Technologies Division, Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Czech Republic), Martin Ruščák (CEO and Chairman of the Board of ÚJV Řež, a.s.), Petr Závodský (Managing Director of EDU II, on behalf of ČEZ), Dr. Aleš Froňka (Director of Czech National Radiation Protection Institute (SÚRO)), Joon-kyo Suh (Site Manager of KHNP Dukovany Construction Site), and representatives from KINGS: Associate Prof. Soo-jin Park (Executive Director of Planning and External Affairs), Associate Prof. Yong-deog Kim (Head of R&DB Foundation), and Distinguished Prof. Keung-koo Kim.

Between the honored guests were also representatives of the Brno Technical University, representatives of the University of Warsaw, representatives of KOTRA Praha (Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency), KHNP Czech (Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power) and many others.

As the Warsaw part of the NCC group, we would like to sincerely congratulate our Czech friends on the official opening of a new unit and give our thanks for inviting us to join them for that special occasion!

You can find the complete photo gallery from that event here, and the official website of CTU NCC here.