Nuclear energy - a new field of study at the Silesian University of Technology
From today you can apply for a new field of second-cycle studies - nuclear energy. Education in the field of nuclear engineering is our University's response to the need to gradually replace conventional energy sources with emission-free sources, and therefore to the high market demand for qualified university graduates.
Nuclear energy is a general academic field of study that will start in March and last 3 semesters. The Faculty of Energy and Environmental Engineering organized Nuclear Energy Open Days for those interested in the new field, which were an opportunity for candidates to meet representatives of many institutions, companies and experts from the nuclear industry. The event was attended by, among others, prof. Wacław Gudowski from the National Centre for Nuclear Research, advisor to Orlen Synthos Green Energy, a scientist associated with the Royal Stockholm University of Technology for many years, who encourages people to study nuclear energy.
– Access to relatively cheap energy is the basis of the prosperity of today's society, and the production of this energy should be emission-free, i.e. not pollute the surrounding environment. Poland has no other option than to develop nuclear energy, said Professor Gudowski. – Nuclear energy is associated with fear of radioactivity, which, like temperature, is not harmful if it is maintained at an appropriate level. We must always talk about nuclear energy in the context of profits and risks, he added.
According to the Polish Nuclear Energy Program, the first nuclear power plant in Poland should start operation in 2033. A network of small modular reactors is also to be created, hence the demand for specialists in this field is high.
– Personnel in the field of nuclear energy are very much needed. We, as the nuclear regulatory authority, plan to employ over a hundred new employees, emphasized Marcin Dąbrowski, director of the Department of Nuclear Safety of the National Atomic Energy Agency. – Investors also need employees, many new jobs will be created due to investments in small modular reactors and additional nuclear programs that are being developed in Poland, so the initiative to create such a field of study at the Silesian University of Technology is right and we strongly support it – he added.
Support for the idea of creating a nuclear energy field is also evidenced by the numerous presence during the Open Day of representatives of such global brands as EDF and GE Hitachi, i.e. market tycoons in the field of nuclear investments; experts from Orlen Synthos Green Energy, a company planning to implement modern modular nuclear reactors, also in the southern part of Poland; representatives of Energopomiar and Energoprojekt-Katowice. Employees of the National Atomic Energy Agency emphasized the role of safety, while representatives of the Radioactive Waste Disposal Facility talked about their specific work.
– The nuclear energy major was created due to the need for specialists with knowledge in the field of nuclear energy and broadly understood nuclear engineering – said dr hab. Eng. Małgorzata Hanuszkiewicz-Drapała, prof. SUT, coordinator of Nuclear Energy field of study at the Silesian University of Technology. – This trend in the Polish energy sector is associated with the need to decarbonize the Polish economy, and in such a situation, nuclear units could constitute an alternative to conventional units.
– We are entering a new chapter – added prof. Janusz Kotowicz, Vice Rector for Collaboration with Civic and Economic Environment of the Silesian University of Technology - we will educate not only in the field of classic energy, such as coal or gas, we already educate in hydrogen technologies at MBA studies, the only ones in Poland in hydrogen technologies, but we are also returning to nuclear energy and this is the future, because we expect to build a large number of small reactors.
More information about the nuclear energy major can be found here.
