The first group of future employees of Rwanda’s planned nuclear facilities is being trained at Russia’s Tomsk Polytechnic University (TPU). Earlier in 2024, TPU became the first university in Russia to sign a memorandum of understanding with the Atomic Energy Council of Rwanda under which TPU has become a reference platform for training personnel for the Rwandan nuclear industry.

An agreement between the Rwandan and Russian governments on cooperation in the peaceful uses of atomic energy was signed in 2018 during the visit to Moscow of the Minister of Infrastructure of the Republic of Rwanda, Claver Gatete,

Currently there is a group of 15 Rwandan students at TPU. Some of them will undergo training in the specialist programme Design and Operation of Nuclear Power Plants at the School of Energy Engineering. Others will study in the English-language master’s programme Nuclear Science and Technology at the School of Nuclear Technology Engineering under the programme Safety and Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Materials.

“First of all, this is a practical-oriented approach to training – future employees of national nuclear facilities will not only receive all the necessary theoretical knowledge, but will also work in specialised laboratories, study on the latest online simulators, the cyclotron, and the research reactor at Tomsk Polytechnic University. The task is to fully prepare them for work at a nuclear facility in the future,” said Vera Verkhoturova, Advisor to the TPU Rector for External Relations.