On 23-26 of August 2022 senior management of the Institute of Nuclear Physics of Kazakhstan visited Belgium. The visit was organized jointly with the Walloon Export and Foreign Investment Agency (AWEX), the Belgian Embassy in Kazakhstan, and the Embassy of Kazakhstan in Belgium.
During the visit, General Director of INP Sakhiyev Sayabek Kuanyshbekovich met with the senior management of John Cockerill, IBA, the National Institute of Radio-elements (IRE) and the Belgian Nuclear Research Centre (SCK CEN).
The possibility of conducting joint research in the field of hydrogen energy was discussed with the management of John Cockerill. At IBA, a delegation from the Institute of Nuclear Physics visited the site for assembling and testing accelerators, after which IBA specialists presented modern models of accelerators for the production of radioisotopes and proton therapy. At the National Institute of Radioelements, the possibility of transferring technologies for the production of radioisotopes of molybdenum-99 and iodine-131 by the fragmentation method, as well as conducting joint research on radiation monitoring of the environment, was discussed. At the Belgian Center for Nuclear Research, issues of INP cooperation in the MYRRHA project, joint training of personnel for the nuclear industry and environmental radiation monitoring were discussed.
Constructive negotiations between Kazakhstani and Belgian specialists in the field of nuclear physics and nuclear medicine have opened the possibility of expanding cooperation in these areas.
As the result, INP and the Belgian Nuclear Research Center signed a Memorandum of Understanding, which is a fundamental document for further deepening cooperation in the field of nuclear and radiation physics between Kazakh and Belgian scientists.
It is symbolic that the Kazakhstani delegation visited Belgium during the celebration of the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Kazakhstan and Belgium.
