From October 1 to December, NSSPI hosted two student interns from the Tomsk Polytechnic University (TPU) in Tomsk, Russia. Denis Tatarnikov and Dmitry Prokopyev spent their internship at NSSPI conducting research in nuclear security and nuclear forensics under a project sponsored by the National Nuclear Security Administration’s Office of Material Protection, Control, and Accounting and the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. The Tomsk students not only conducted substantive research projects during their time at NSSPI, producing a detailed report and presentation, but they also experienced Texas culture and bonded with several Aggies over the course of their internship. They visited Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), participating in this semester’s Nuclear Security and Safeguard Workshop with several students from TAMU, MIT, and Penn State. The workshop afforded them the opportunity to complete hands-on exercises with special nuclear material and safeguards instruments. They also took a trip to New York City while in the US.
Tatarnikov and Prokopyev return to TPU to receive their nuclear engineering degrees specializing in material control and accounting. The work they conducted at NSSPI will serve as their final projects.