The Fourth School of Student Construction Brigades (SCB) in the nuclear industry took place on May 15 during the X Anniversary International ATOMEXPO-2018 Forum in Sochi. This event was organized by the Rosatom Centre for Major Construction Projects, the Russian National Public Youth Organization “Russian Construction Brigades” (RNPYO RCB) and Rosatom’s Corporate Academy. Sixty brigade “privates”, “commanders”, and “commissars” picked from the best students from 15 Russian regions and 22 institutions of learning as well as industry representatives took part in the School.
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Alexey Likhachev, Director General of ROSATOM, greeted the students in his welcoming remarks. He told them about ROSATOM’s strategic objectives and answered their questions about student brigade members’ job placement. In his words, Rosatom is interested in hiring the best graduates of the country’s leading universities and colleges.
Gennady Sakharov, Director for Capital Investments, State Construction Regulations, and State Expert Reviews at ROSATOM, noted the important role of personnel policy in implementing construction investment projects. “Embedding personalized approaches to personnel management and implementing AI and big data in HR processes will become key requirements for HR functions. These skills will help students to prepare for term papers and in selecting their future occupation”, he said.
The SCB programme enjoys an international scale for the third year running. This year its geography was expanded to include Akkuyu NPP in Turkey. A spokesman for the ROSATOM Centre of Excellence for Major Construction Projects, which oversees the initiative to develop SCBs in the nuclear industry, has announced the results of the All-Russian Open Competition held to distribute student placements at NPP construction sites in Russia and abroad. During the summer, the students will work at four Russian nuclear facilities (Mayak Production Association and the Kursk II, Novovoronezh II and Leningrad II NPPs) as well as four sites in other countries (Akkuyu NPP, Kudankulam NPP in India, Rooppur NPP in Bangladesh and Belarus NPP in Belarus). A total of 1350 students will be involved.
Engaging students in the nuclear industry has become an integral part of ROSATOM’s HR strategy. SCBs promote the adaptation and development of young professionals in the sector, says Tatiana Terentieva, Head of HR at Rosatom. The participants acquire management experience, build their professional capacity, and companies get to be the first to recognize talent. Last year, the students who took part in the Peaceful Atom 2017 National Construction Project enrolled in a professional competition to get recognition for their skills relevant for major nuclear construction work. Members of nuclear SCBs also volunteer at industry events. Many SCB alumni are now employed by the nuclear energy sector: Anton Chumakov, leader of the interregional student construction brigade at Rostov NPP in 2015, now works as an electrician at that NPP; Roman Kopylov, leader of a Peaceful Atom 2015 construction project at Novovoronezh NPP, is now Project Production Improvement Engineer at ASE; and Andrei Novostroiny, leader of the Peaceful Atom National Construction Project at Mayak Production Association, is currently employed as First-Category Staff Training Engineer at Mayak’s Training and Assessment Department.
Representatives of receiving organizations (Titan-2, Mayak, ASE) reported that their facilities offer the most comfortable conditions for work and residence. Mayak invites students for the fourth time. “Every year we try to improve the living conditions and offer students interesting tasks,” Mikhail Pokhlebaev, General Director of Mayak, says. According to him, this year the children will perform works of a general construction character. To implement production plans, students undergo advanced training to obtain specialized skills. High requirements are imposed on SCB participants to work at foreign nuclear power plants. One of the compulsory competitive conditions is the knowledge of English. In the forthcoming working semester, representatives of ASE will focus on providing training for engineering specialties. SCB privates will be involved in the implementation of management processes, will be introduced to modern tools in the field of design, construction and supervisory activities.
Mikhail Kiselev, commander of the Central Staff of Russian Student Brigades, spoke about developing the SCB movement in the nuclear industry. He noted the importance of compliance with health and safety regulations while working at nuclear facilities. “The most important value of Rosatom is safety,” he reminded, having reported on the development of a code to enforce labour and safety regulations. Alexey Likhachev, Director General of Rosatom, greeted the students in his welcoming remarks. He told them about ROSATOM’s strategic objectives and answered their questions about student brigade members’ job placement. In his words, Rosatom is interested in hiring the best graduates of the country’s leading universities and colleges.
SCB participants got acquainted with the strategy, values and key directions of ROSATOM business development and the principles of Rosatom Production System within the framework of the school. Another feature was an educational course entitled “Labour protection and safety at construction sites of the nuclear industry”. The business program of the School was complemented by a visit to an exhibition with the participation of the leading companies in the global nuclear and related industries, as well as participation in the round table “Total cost and time management of NPP construction projects: constituents of success in international projects”. The students listened to the latest information in the field of cost engineering and asked international experts questions.
At the end of the first working day, SCB members met with Alexey Likhachev, Director General of ROSATOM. The students talked about labour projects organized by regional offices, discussed the employment of SCB privates and the contract campaign for the summer season.


Source: Press service of the ROSATOM Centre for Major Construction Projects