Applied science at JINR: new facilities and topics
JINR Director Grigory Trubnikov spoke about key events in recent months. First of all, this is the launch of the basic facility by the FLNR staff - the new DC‑140 cyclotron has been constructed, put into operation and is operating that replaced the IC-100 cyclotron. It is characterized by a wide range of accelerated particles. The second significant scientific event is the start of the next technological run on the NICA Complex, during which the MPD detector will operate in the basic configuration. The session of the Scientific Council was successfully held, all the papers were highly appreciated. JINR took the initiative to develop new programmes in radiochemistry and radiobiology; in January, one of them will be presented at the Programme Advisory Committees. JINR Days are successfully held in the Member States, there is a desire to expand cooperation. Preparations are underway for the meeting of the Committee of Plenipotentiaries that will be held in Ulan Bator. The main issue at it will be the discussion of the budget. An experiment to synthesize the element 119 is underway, scheduled statistics are practically achieved, then there will be a break for about four months.
Head of IIPD Igor Lensky presented the report "R&D and innovations in JINR: current formats, implementation, plans". He began with a tour of history. The Institute tried different formats for the development of applied science. In 2018, the establishment of a special department for applied research was discussed. In the early 2020s, an Innovative Research Centre in the field of nuclear technologies was established - several large infrastructure units, in fact, new facilities that the Institute needs for both basic and applied research: ARIADNA, DC-140, Radiochemical Laboratory of Nuclear Physics, superconducting medical proton cyclotron MSC‑230. Today, the task is to complete the infrastructure and to develop a research programme.
An initiative in this area is that a new topic is developed in the corresponding section of the Topical Plan that consolidates tasks and resources around a number of promising projects aimed at developing new generation facilities. The Section 7 of the TP is transformed from "Applied innovation activities" into "International innovation centre for nuclear physics research". The Section is filled at the expense of general Institute topics, youth proposals, others.
The most difficult is the implementation of the JINR radiochemical research complex project - an advanced infrastructure for carrying out radiochemical and radiobiological investigations, studying actinide materials, obtaining promising medical radionuclides, synthesizing and testing new radiopharmaceuticals.
In general, distributed infrastructure located in JINR and in Member States should be obtained. Its development will take place in stages, starting with the commissioning of radiochemical complexes RCL‑I (in FLNR) and RCL-III (in DLNP). In combination with the basic facilities of JINR and the facilities of the Member States - Russia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan, Vietnam, Cuba, Armenia, a centre with unique capabilities will be obtained.
The second initiative is a competition for youth innovative projects. In autumn, 2024, Chairman of the AYSS Council Vladislav Rozhkov announced the need to hold such a competition. This initiative focuses on: supporting product-focused R&D; a consistent project approach implemented by young leaders; international interlaboratory teams; technological agenda relevant for the Member States; human resource development (leader and 70% of the team under the age of 39); annual reporting. The first competition was held in February-March, 2025. A total of 32 applications were submitted, five of them were selected for funding. Two more projects gained a large number of votes, they tried to support them in other ways. I. Lensky spoke about each of the projects - the progress of implementation, demand in the market and in other scientific centres.
The next speaker was Head of the Applied Physics Centre of FLNR Pavel Apel with a report "Applied research on beams of accelerated heavy ions in FLNR". He spoke about the workshop "Applied research on beams of accelerated heavy ions" that was held on 22-23 June at JINR and brought together 23 organizations. The scientific programme of the meeting included priority areas of applied research implemented on beams of accelerated ions. The meetings were held in sections: "Biological applications of track membranes", "Medical use of track membranes", "Nanomembranes, nanostructures, nanocomposites", "Heavy ions for testing an electronic component base". The goal of the meeting is to evaluate the situation at the moment and to measure the vectors of further movement.
P. Apel spoke about the research centres that presented their investigations. These are biomedical organizations, business partners, representatives of the space industry. Further, they talked about reports made by JINR Laboratory staff and visiting specialists. P. Apel recalled what the accelerated heavy ions were, what properties allow them to be used for applied research and applications. These are, for instance, track membranes. The history of the development of this area goes back 50 years. In the 1980s, pilot production began and in the 2000s, up to 80 thousand m2 of membranes and 200 thousand m2 of irradiated film were produced. They are used in biotechnology, for water purification, in medicine, analytical filters, for scientific purposes.
The speaker talked about the techniques of using track membranes presented at the meeting: for healing burn wounds, in cell biology, immunodiagnosis, 30 years of experience in the production of plasmapheresis, nanocomposite materials, others. And also, about the use of heavy ions in the space industry for testing space electronics. One of the results included new contacts for the partnership. Soon, after the meeting, bilateral meetings were held to organize joint research and development.
Questions and suggestions at the STC meeting were made by V. Matveev, S. Nedelko, D. Peshekhonov, G. Shelkov, Yu. Oganessian and others.
At the end of the meeting, JINR employees were awarded.
Galina MYALKOVSKAYA, Photo by Igor LAPENKO