First of Turkish nuclear students in Russia to graduate

By Huseyin Erdogan

MOSCOW (AA) - Thirty-five Turkish nuclear engineering students will graduate in three months from the Moscow Engineering Physics Institute (MEPhI) of Russia's National Research Nuclear University, said the institute's official on Friday.

MEPhI currently has 230 Turkish students, 137 of whom are studying in Moscow while 93 are undertaking studies in the Obninsk Institute for Nuclear Power Engineering in Russia's Kaluga region, said MEPhI Foreign Student's Faculty Deputy Head Olga Petukhova.

Petukhova explained that the first group of 35 Turkish students will graduate on Feb. 28, and will subsequently be employed at Turkey's first nuclear plant, the Akkuyu plant that will be constructed in the southern region of Mersin.

In May 2010, Turkey and Russia signed a deal for the construction of the Akkuyu plant. The agreement also stipulated that Russia would educate Turkish students in leading nuclear universities in Russia.

The plant will have a capacity of 4,800 megawatts in four units and a working lifetime of 8,000 hours per year. In its first phase, two units with a capacity of 2,400 megawatts are planned for completion by 2023.

Petukhova summarized the education that the international students received at MEPhI. "They firstly studied the Russian language intensively, and then physics, mathematics and computer technology. Their studies from beginning to graduation lasted 6.5 years," she said.

As part of the agreement between Turkey and Russia, the Turkish students received $500 monthly, were provided accommodation during their study and internship and were also given one round-trip flight ticket once a year.

She explained that the students will return to the respective countries after graduation.

The 75-year-old university, MEPhI, currently has 1,300 foreign students from 50 countries from all over the world.

"Most of our students prefer our nuclear education with international students from Vietnam, Bangladesh, Egypt and Turkey," Petukhova said.

MEPhI is one of the top five universities in Russia with excellent laboratories and the students who undertake nuclear education here continue with internships where they put the theory they have learned into practice, she said.

The university aims to welcome 600 foreign students next year from different countries, according to Petukhova.