Khlopin Radium Institute

The Khlopin Radium Institute is part of the structure of the Rosatom state corporation. It belongs to world leaders in the study of nuclear energy problems. Within its walls, radioactive phenomena and the properties of radioactive materials were first studied.

Institute mission

He conducts research in various areas of nuclear physics, radiochemistry, geochemistry. He takes an active part in federal programs and in projects at the international level related to nuclear physics.

The main building is located in the city of St. Petersburg. 2nd Murinsky Prospekt, Building 28 - address of the Radium Institute. The ancestor, a historical building, is located in the central part of the city, at the address: X-ray street, house 1. Currently, it houses the Institute Museum, the first cyclotron, and some research laboratories. The Gatchinsky scientific and experimental complex also belongs to the institute.

Radium Institute has a unique experimental base. It allows high-level basic research in many areas of atomic science. The base of the scientific and experimental center in the city of Gatchina is a system of a full cycle of research, which starts from an idea and ends with a specific technology.

The origins

V. Khlopin Radium Institute is the first Russian organization that stood at the origins of the development of domestic atomic science. Within its walls, fundamental studies of radioactivity were first conducted. It was here that the first European cyclotron was created.

The institute begins its biography from the beginning of the 20th century. At the beginning of 1915, the KEPS Radium Division (Commission for the Study of Natural Productive Forces) was formed in St. Petersburg.

At the beginning of 1922, the head of KEPS - Academician V. Vernadsky - in collaboration with V. Khlopin, A. Fersman and I. Bashilov combined three structures that were involved in the study of radioactive substances. As a result, the State Radium Institute (GRI) was formed. He was included in the lists of institutions that had their own estimates and the ability to receive loans from the state. January 23, 1922 was the date of its formation.

Beginning of work

GRI consisted of three departments: radiochemical (supervisor V. Khlopin); physical (L. Mysovsky); geochemical (V. Vernadsky).

The main and first main task was to take over the management of the enterprise, which was located in the city of Bondyug (Tatarstan). In it, at the end of 1921, V. Khlopin, in a group with other scientists from Ferghana ore, received the first radium preparations. In the first year of the GAI's work, methods of physicochemical control of the processes of obtaining natural radioactive materials were actively developed.

At this institute, G. Gamov designed the theory of alpha decay of the atomic nucleus. It was at his suggestion that a decision was made to begin construction of the cyclotron, the first in Europe, which was put into operation in 1937.

This unique tool became the basis for very important experiments. The first head of the cyclotron department was I. Kurchatov. With its help, in 1939 K. Petrzhak and G. Flerov made a discovery about the spontaneous fission of uranium.

With the beginning of World War II, the Institute moved to Kazan. There, work on the development of new technologies in the field of uranium research was continued.

Nuclear project

He returned to Leningrad Radium Institute in mid-1944. Immediately after the war he was involved in the USSR atomic project.

The Institute was entrusted with:

• continue to study the chemical characteristics of plutonium;
• to develop and test plutonium separation technologies, including from irradiated uranium;
• issue technological solutions for the production of plutonium by July 1, 1946.

The indicated work was carried out by the institute team. The main works were completed by the end of May 1946. At the same time, the institute created a new plutonium separation scheme, different from that used in the USA. It was based on the discovery made by V. Khlopin when using acetate technology in this process. To extract plutonium, it was decided to build a plant, which was commissioned in the spring of 1949.

This technology of the Radium Institute was subsequently improved.

Representatives of the radio institute participated in nuclear tests (explosions) from 1949 to 1962. Also, representatives of the institute provided the preparation and implementation of 55 underground nuclear explosions for peaceful purposes from 1965 to 1984. They were conducted to obtain information on the radio-chemical and geological-mineralogical consequences of nuclear explosions.

Explosive topics attracted more than 200 employees of the institute to the tests. His scientists actively participated in the first test of a thermonuclear charge in 1953. They created a station for monitoring the radioactive contamination of the area.

The results of this work led to the fact that at the end of the fifties of the last century the Institute staff prepared a collection of articles united under the title “Determination of pollution of the biosphere by nuclear test products”. This collection has become official at the UN.

Institute Achievements

Currently, the Khlopin Radium Institute provides scientific support for the reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel.

Among the merits of the Institute, the following can be distinguished, namely:

1. In collaboration with colleagues (the Idaho National Laboratory of the United States), scientists from the institute developed a universal technology that allows long-lived radionuclides to be extracted from nuclear waste and converted to low-active ones.
2. Directly participated in the development of REMIX fuel, which allows multiple reuse of uranium and plutonium, removing it from spent nuclear fuel.
3. Together with the structures of RosRAO, the staff of the Radium Institute produced a waste detritization unit at the Fukushima emergency nuclear power plant (Japan).
4. Universal complexes have been developed and put into operation that have no analogues, designed to exercise control over radioactive gases and aerosols. This equipment is located in many regions of the Russian Federation, as well as in Argentina.
5. The Institute took an active part in the implementation of the agreement on the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty. Within the framework of this program, he developed equipment for the respective control stations.
6. The Institute’s specialists are involved in the search for promising geological structures that can be used for the disposal of highly toxic nuclear waste underground.
7. Radium Institute Khlopina is the only Russian manufacturer of reference radionuclide sources. After appropriate certification, they become exemplary metrological tools.
8. The Institute manufactures and supplies radiological and pharmaceutical preparations to clinics in St. Petersburg and other cities that are used in the diagnosis of cancer, heart disease, the detection of disorders in the endocrine system, the study of kidney diseases, as well as a number of other diseases.
9. The Institute’s specialists developed and put into production prototypes of equipment that is designed to detect explosives, drugs, chemicals hidden behind significant obstacles (in walls, in deep voids, baggage, containers, etc.).
10. The institute developed and manufactured a portable high-energy neutron spectrometer, which found application on the ISS.

As well as many other achievements.

Awards, discoveries, works

For its contribution to the development of science and the defense of the country, the Radium Institute of St. Petersburg was awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labor and the Order of Honor.

Within the walls of the institute, 3 discoveries of world significance were made:

• L. Mysovsky - discovery of nuclear isometry:
• K. Peterzhak, G. Flerov - spontaneous fission of uranium;
• A. Lozhkin, A. Rimsky-Korsakov - superheavy nuclide He-8.

The Khlopin Radium Institute constantly publishes its own works; he is one of the founders of the international journal "Radiochemistry".