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Meeting
of the NATO-Ukraine Working Group
on Scientific and Environmental Cooperation

22 May 2002

A meeting of the NATO-Ukraine Working Group on Scientific and Environmental Cooperation took place on 22 May at NATO Headquarters. Co-chaired by Mr. Andriy Hurzhiy, First Deputy State Secretary of the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine, and Mr. Jean Fournet, NATO Assistant Secretary General for Scientific and Environmental Affairs, the meeting consolidated the friendly relations and the good cooperation already underway in the areas of science and environment between NATO and Ukraine. Both the Science Programme and the Environment and Society Programme of the Committee on the Challenges of Modern Society (CCMS) were on the agenda, and the activities underway with Ukraine in both these programmes were reviewed.

Among the problem areas tackled was the lack of applications in Science and Technology Policy, and it was decided to make more effort to attract applications for the activities supported in this area. It was noted with satisfaction the that the co-funding by Ukraine of NATO-supported projects had increased fourfold since 1998, and that the projection for 2002 was double the 2001 funding. In discussing possible improvements in implementation, a number of areas were suggested for study, such as possible prioritization of the type of subject supported, support for projects with impact in the different regions of Ukraine, and also neighbouring countries, and the possibility of special expert Fellowships to ensure that leaders of technological institutions in Ukraine remain at the top of their fields.

About 200 Ukrainian research teams have received support for collaboration under the NATO Science Programme in the three-years 1999-2001. In addition, since 1993 about 380 Science Fellowships have been awarded to Ukrainian scientists to study for a period in NATO countries.

Examples of Supported Projects

• Ten Computer Networking Infrastructure Grants have been made to develop networking infrastructure for the academic community of Ukraine, for a total amount of €638,100. The main focus of the grants has been on development of the "Ukrainian Academic and Research Data Network", to create the information infrastructure for research and education in Ukraine. The network is coordinated by the Kyiv Polytechnical Institute, and involves amongst others several institutes in Kyiv, the Mining Academy of Ukraine (Dnepropetrovsk), the Donetsk State Technical University, and the Odessa and Kharkiv State Polytechnic Universities.
• Over € 2 million has been awarded for cooperative science and technology in the past three years for projects involving scientists from Ukraine. An example of the projects supported is one dealing with Development of a Sustainable Human Development Indicator for Local Communities. The project is being undertaken in the light of the UNDP's Human Development Index, which does not currently take into account the environmental effects of socio-economic development. This project has the objective of filling that lacuna; it will provide a measure of human development that takes into account the extent to which the activities undertaken for socio-economic improvement have been environment-friendly. Prof. Leonid Melnik of the Sumy State University is the Ukranian co-director of the project, which is being undertaken in collaboration with colleagues in the United Kingdom and Belgium.
• Among the eight NATO scientific meetings scheduled to be held in Ukraine in 2002 is one dealing with Scientific Fundamentals for the Lifetime Extension of Reactor Pressure Vessels, which took place in Kyiv in April. As Nuclear Power Plants approach the end of their operating licenses, one option is to extend their service lifetime. Their service life is limited because of irradiation embrittlement of the reactor pressure vessel, and the development of procedures to mitigate embrittlement are needed to extend their lifetime. Scientific teams in many countries are dealing with embrittlement and re-licensing problems, and developing their own solutions to a number of scientific and technical issues. There are about 400 nuclear reactors currently working worldwide, and as the service life of about 50 of them will expire by the year 2005, among which are those of 11 Nuclear Power Plants in Ukraine, this Kyiv workshop is a particularly timely exercise.
• Almost €1.4 million is projected for Ukraine in support of the twelve Science for Peace projects currently underway. One of these aims to improve the life-time of the coatings of industrial gas turbine blades, with considerable financial savings envisaged for the industrial partners involved. Dr. Pavel Krukovsky, of the Institute of Engineering Thermophysics, Kyiv, is the Ukrainian co-director of this project, collaborating with colleagues in Germany and Russia.
  

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