Public events

The Week of the CAS 2022 with Open Days in Řež

From November 4 to 5, 2022, as part of The Week of the Czech Academy of Sciences (CAS), the annual Open Days took place in the Řež research area. They were co-organized by two of CAS institutes – the Nuclear Physics Institute and the Institute of Inorganic Chemistry - together with the ÚJV Řež and the Research Center Řež (CVŘ).

Friday was reserved for school groups, which included classes from primary schools in Kolín and Klecany and classes from the Kralupy nad Vltavou High School. According to NPI, in addition to the AMS laboratory, the school groups also visited the Laboratory of Tandetron. Saturday was intended for individual visitors and families: the NPI was represented by the AMS laboratory with the MILEA facility. NPI scientists Jan Kameník and Kateřina Pachnerová Brabcová  took on the role of expert laboratory guides this time. The RAMSES project and the NPI as a whole were also presented here with two roll-ups, the presenters also used a wooden track with trains to better visualize the functioning of the AMS spectrometer MILEA. However, this was intended mainly for explaining to the children of the NPI employees as part of an extraordinary excursion, also accessible to visitors under the age of 12, which complemented the joint Open days.

Our co-organizers presented the LR-0 and LVR-15 research reactors (CVŘ), the hydrogen technology department (ÚJV) with a hydrogen car in operation, nanomaterials for environmental protection and research on the degradation of materials in paintings (IIC). The visitors were also interested in the collection of dosimeters of one of the area's security personnel.

The NPI of the CAS participated in the Open Days by the excursions to the AMS Laboratory with the MILEA facility (far left: presenter Kateřina Pachnerová Brabcová)

For young construction designers in Kolín

Vladimír Semián from the Laboratory of Tandetron performed a "vacuum show" on behalf of our institute also on June 23rd at the event Já konstruktér (I, construction designer), organized by the Kolín High School of Mechanical Engineering in the Municipal Community House Kolín and intended to popularize science and technology to primary and secondary school students.

Fun science laboratory: jubilee 10th Vědafest (Science Festival)

Compared to last years´ September date, the jubilee 10th anniversary of VědaFest (subtitled Fun Science Laboratory), held in Vítězné náměstí in Prague's Dejvice quarter under the open air and aimed mostly at primary and secondary school pupils, was unexpectedly moved to June 22 this year. This time our exhibition was a bit more modest: at the stand itself, CRL employee Pavel Šimek presented the method of radiocarbon dating on real samples of animal skulls and bones with the help of a microscope. Martin Kákona demonstrated the SUV car of the CRREAT project and its equipment in front of the stand. Organizers of the event, also held under the auspices of the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports (MEYS) of the Czech Republic, are Czech Technical University (CTU) in Prague, University of Chemistry and Technology (UCT) in Prague and the City of Prague Children's and Youth Center.

Martin Kákona (in the foreground of the photo) presents the equipment of a car for tracking thunderstorms, Pavel Šimek (in the background at the stand) explains radiocarbon dating of artefacts and natural objects

Veletrh vědy (The Science fair) took place after three years

Veletrh vědy (The Science Fair), the largest Czech scientific event for the public, took place again at the PVA Expo exhibition center in Prague's Letňany quarter from Thursday, June 2 to Saturday, June 4, 2022. There was after a three-year break due to the coronavirus pandemic. In addition to our small stand, this time the organizers provided us with a generous space in front of it, where we exhibited for the first time an SUV-type car for thuderstorm research, used in the CRREAT project and in the work of the Department of radiation dosimetry (DRD) NPI. The department and project staff presented it here with many instruments, including a rotorcraft drone on the roof.

The walls of our stand were lined with our posters and roll-ups, including news about radiopharmaceuticals and the opening of the AMS laboratory. NPI brochures and other our leaflets were available to those seriously interested, and a loop of our videos was running on the monitor. We have traditionally entrusted part of the stand space to the popular "vacuum magician", our employee Vladimír Semián with the Pfeiffer Vacuum set. In the second half of the stand, the staff of our CRL laboratory presented the radiocarbon dating method and the RAMSES project. All our presentations attracted hundreds of people during three days of the event: primary school pupils, secondary school and university students, families with children, but also younger and older professionals.

Let's add that DRD NPI employees were also present at the stand of the Fair´s Space for Mankind CAS project, in which we also participate.

The NPI stand at Veletrh vědy 2022 was "besieged" by visitors, there is Vladimír Semián in the background 

A car with equipment for measuring storms in the CRREAT project also attracted great interest: Marek Sommer (DRD) in a NPI T-shirt listens to the visitor's questions

Vladimír Semián didn't even need a Pfeiffer Vacuum set for some physics "tricks"

The Nuclear-Chemical Afternoon in Řež took place online

The Week of the Czech Academy of Sciences has traditionally included the Open Days of the Řež scientific valley. In 2021 year, it took place on November 6 from 1 pm to 4 pm in the online form, under the name Nuclear-Chemical Afternoon in Řež.

In his one-hour part, V. Wagner (NPI) first introduced the common beginnings of the institute with its later division into NPI and ÚJV. Then he focused on the past and current activities of the NPI of the CAS and its upcoming projects, such as testing materials for future nuclear reactors, including fusion reactors, or testing of radiation effects on dosimetric phantoms of human bodies during space missions. He described the advantages, areas of application and specifics of accelerators used in NPI: cyclotrons U-120M, TR-24, Microtron MT-25, linear accelerator Tandetron and novelty, accelerator mass spectrometer MILEA, which will be used mainly in dating in archeology and other fields. He also mentioned the use of neutron channels, which NPI has leased at the LVR-15 nuclear reactor in Řež, and which serves as a source of low-energy thermal neutrons, but also for research into magnetic properties. At the end of Wagner's performance, there was ten-minute cartoon movie Urychlovač částic (Particle Accelerator) from the 6th documentary series NezKreslená věda (Undistorted Science). The whole record of Wagner's part (in Czech) can be found on the NPI Youtube channel here.

http://www.ujf.cas.cz/en/news/The-Nuclear-Chemical-Afternoon-in-Rez-will-be-online/

VědaFest 2021: from online to the real world

Last year, the annual outdoor Science Festival took place in the online form only. But this year there took place on September 8 physically again, under the new name VědaFest (ScienceFest), with the subtitle Fun Science Laboratory on Kulaťák („Kulaťák“ is an informal name for the Vítězné náměstí – Victory Square – in Prague´s quarter Dejvice). The stand of the NPI of the CAS could not be missed here.

http://www.ujf.cas.cz/en/news/VedaFest-2021-from-online-to-the-real-world/