Hemangi Shrivastava, an Indian student pursuing her Master’s degree in Electronics and Nano electronics at the Moscow Power Engineering Institute (MPEI), has been awarded the prestigious Marie Sklodowska-Curie Fellowship Programme (MSCFP) for women in nuclear science. MPEI is one of the flagship institutions under Rosatom’s core and partner university network.
Originally from India, Hemangi chose to specialize in illumination engineering and sources of light, an area she describes as the “perfect blend of science and art.” It’s not directly related to nuclear science but is highly affected by nuclear energy. The cheaper and easier the access is to electricity in a country, the more illuminated its streets are”, Hemangi noted.
Speaking about her main motivation for applying to the MSCF program, Hemangi mentioned that in 2023, she attended the World Youth Festival in Sirius, Russia, organized by Rosatom, where “a very inspiring female Turkish professor explained how nuclear energy is in everything, a part of everything, even in light”. “I am grateful to Rosatom, to the IAEA and the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellowship Program for this opportunity”, she added.
The MSCFP Programme, supported by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), was launched in 2020 to encourage more women to enter and thrive in the nuclear sector. The Programme supports talented students pursuing nuclear-related studies at the Master’s level year; one hundred and more young women scientists from all over the world become its fellows. Since the programme is launched, 560 students from 121 countries have been selected from over 2,200 applications.
Rosatom has been a key partner of the IAEA’s Marie Sklodowska-Curie Fellowship Programme, supporting around 40 female students from 17 countries over the past four years. This academic year, 12 students from their flagship universities across 10 countries including Armenia, Ethiopia, India, Indonesia, Kyrgyzstan, Rwanda, Tanzania, Turkey, Uzbekistan, and Zimbabwe received the scholarship, which covers tuition, internships, a monthly stipend, and additional financial support from Rosatom.
“The concept of human centricity is very important for Rosatom, which assumes that the greatest value is people. Within the framework of this concept, we pay great attention to human resources development for our partner countries, including girls from these countries who are already studying at Rosatom partner universities and seek to link their careers with the nuclear industry. We attach great importance to the fact that our values coincide with those of the IAEA, and we can work together to ensure that there are more bright and talented women in the nuclear sector who contribute to the development of nuclear technologies and increase trust to green nuclear energy,” Vera Upirova, Senior Manager of the Project Office for Education Development and International Cooperation of Rosatom, told about the experience of implementing the Marie Sklodowska Curie Fellowship Program in Russia.
The company has long aligned its strategy with the global sustainable development agenda. In 2020, it adopted a unified sectoral policy on sustainable development and joined the UN Global Compact—the largest global initiative for corporate social responsibility. Today, Rosatom is the largest producer of low-carbon electricity in Russia, generating approximately 20% of the nation’s power.
For Reference ROSATOM is the only company in the world that has the resources and competencies to offer energy solutions across the nuclear supply chain. It possesses a wide range of assets, including assets in the design, construction and operation of nuclear power stations, uranium mining, conversion and enrichment, supply of nuclear fuel, decommissioning, spent fuel storage and transportation and safe nuclear waste disposal. Rosatom is also engaged in the production of equipment and isotope products for the needs of nuclear medicine, scientific research, and materials science, the production of digital and of various nuclear and non-nuclear innovative products. The company’s strategy is to develop low-carbon power generation projects, including in the wind generation field. Today the company brings together over 300 enterprises and organizations and over 250,000 employees.
Kudankulam NPP is India’s largest nuclear power plant and the flagship project of Russian-Indian technological and energy cooperation. The Nuclear Power Plant is located in Tamil Nadu state in the South of India. The project envisages the construction of six power units with VVER-1000 type reactors of 6000MW gross installed capacity. The developer is the technical customer of the facility: Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd. The general designer and supplier of equipment is Atomstroyexport, JSC (part of Rosatom State Corporation Engineering Division). The first stage (Units 1 and 2) was put into operation in 2013 and 2017 respectively. The second stage (Units 3 and 4) is at the stage of construction. New power units of Kudankulam NPP comply with the most up-to-date safety requirements of IAEA.
About Rosatom is a diversified holding company managing assets in energy, engineering, and construction. Rosatom’s businesses also include production of innovative non-nuclear products, logistics and development of the Northern Sea Route, and environmental projects. The state corporation unites more than 450 enterprises and organisations employing about 400 thousand people.
For many years, Rosatom has been carrying out its activities taking into account the sustainable development agenda. The principles of sustainable development are included in Rosatom’s long-term strategy. In 2020, the Unified Industry Policy on Sustainable Development was adopted. In October of the same year, Rosatom State Corporation joined the UN Global Compact, the largest international initiative for business in the field of corporate social responsibility and sustainable development. The company is the largest producer of low-carbon electricity in Russia, providing about 20% of the total electricity produced in the country. Rosatom ranks first in the world in terms of its portfolio of orders for the construction of nuclear power plants: 39 power units (including six small modular reactor units) in 10 countries are at various stages of implementation.
