Nuclear security culture is an essential means for nuclear security enhancement at nuclear facilities. It contributes to the ability of personnel to effectively mitigate potential threats to nuclear and radioactive material by promoting appropriate attitude and behavior that result in personnel adopting a more rigorous and prudent approach to their nuclear security responsibilities. Within organizations that have a strong nuclear security culture it is less likely that personnel will commit a malicious act, either due to their belief that nuclear security is important or to the deterrence factor of vigilance and professional adherence to nuclear security practices. The authors touched upon the development of nuclear security culture in the Republic of Belarus in 2020–2021. This time coincides with the period of the first unit of Belarusian Nuclear Power Plant in Ostovets commissioning on the one hand, and with the spread of COVID-19 on the other. The role of nuclear security culture has increased as reflected in a number of regulations approved in 2020. Role, functions and requirements for nuclear security culture are set forth not only for Belarusian nuclear power plant, but also for organizations operating ionizing radiation sources. Presently, we all are living in a time of COVID-19 spread. Sanitary standards establishment has made corrections to organization of activities necessary for development and strengthening of nuclear security culture in organizations. The paper presents the approach and lists the activities organized by the Scientific Institution “JIPNR – Sosny” to improve nuclear security culture.

   This article presents the results of the first investigation of deuterium retention in W and W–xTa monocrystalline alloys (x = 1, 3, 5, at %). Exposure in gaseous deuterium was performed in the temperature range of 425–625 K at the pressure of 103 Pa. The results of thermal desorption spectroscopy (TDS) of deuterium retention in samples are presented.

   The presence of anomalous particles (granules) with significantly different concentrations of microalloying interstitial elements of carbon and boron is an important characteristic of the uniformity of the composition of rapidly quenched powders of high temperature nickel based supersalloys and stainless steels obtained by the PREP method. A detailed multiscale experimental study of the behavior of boron and carbon in PM HIP compacts of the Ni based superalloys under hot deformation and heat treatment has been carried out. Direct nuclear methods of activation autoradiography on carbon using the nuclear reaction 12C (d, n) 13N and track autoradiography on boron using the nuclear reaction 10B (n, α) 7Li, metallography, SEM, EDX and OIM were used to reveal the peculiarities of the evolution of the microstructure of abnormal granules in PM HIP compacts of high-temperature Ni-based superalloys. A significant effect of hot deformation and heat treatment on the behavior of boron and carbon in PM HIP compacts of high-temperature Ni-based superalloys has been revealed. Significant differences in the evolution of carbon and boron are found and discussed. A schematic TTT diagram is proposed for the precipitation of the boride phase in comparison with the precipitation of the carbide and gamma prime phases.

   An experimental technique is considered to search for the stimulation of de-excitation of the nuclear isomer (SDENI) ^186mRe (the half-life of the isomer T1 / 2 = 2 × 105 yr) in the plasma of a high-current Z-pinch. Based on the recently obtained results of the observation of the SDENI for ^186mRe in a laser plasma, the possibility of observing the SDENI at the Angara-5-1 facility for ^186mRe in a Z-pinch plasma with an electron temperature of about 1 keV is shown. The design of the liner – a set of metal wires with the ^186mRe isomer, the electric explosion of which creates a Z-pinch, the method for introducing the ^186mRe isomer into the liner, and the method for detecting the SDENI for ^186mRe in the Z-pinch plasma are discussed.

   At present, scientists propose different formulas for the energy resolution of scintillation spectrometers, which sometimes contradict each other. The terms included in the formulas for the energy resolution differ not only in their names but also in the physical meaning. The main drawback of all of these theories of scintillation spectrometers is the unjustified introduction of different terms into the formula for the energy resolution without considering their connection with the specific characteristics of the scintillation detector. This approach is not only wrong but also counterproductive, since it does not allow comparison of the results obtained by different scientific groups. In this work, the drawbacks of the theories are analyzed on the basis of the standard theory of scintillation spectrometers with several photodetectors. It is shown that only the formulas of the standard theory for arbitrary moments of the output signal distribution function of the photodetectors of a scintillation spectrometer serve as a reliable basis for linking theoretical and experimental researches in the field of scintillator physics.

   Motivation of the search for deviation from Standard Model (SM) comes from its obvious incompleteness and desire to build more general theory of particle physics. In this paper search for new physics is realized using the indirect method based on changes in the known particles interactions due to the impact of physics beyond the SM. These deviations from SM interactions are called anomalous couplings. In this paper process of electroweak Z y production is studied. This process is extremely sensitive to anomalous quartic gauge couplings. The model-independent phenomenological model effective field theory is used to parameterize the anomalous couplings in the Lagrangian as higher dimensional operators. The resulting Lagrangian contains each of these operators with some coefficients which are the coupling constants of the effective theory. The method developed for setting of the 1-dimensional limits on these coefficients is described in the paper. As a result, it becomes possible to obtain expected limits on some coupling constants, which are more precise than currently existing.

   Data collected with an atom probe tomograph allow to reconstruct 3D atom maps of chemical element atoms with high accuracy. Due to the permanent improvement of AP installations, new 3D reconstruction procedures are required. This work proposes an improved approach for atom probe data reconstruction which uses dynamic parameters and a calibration based on the material density.

   Stacked composite high-temperature superconducting tapes (HTS tapes) are advanced material for development of magnetic levitation systems such as levitation transport, bearings, and kinetic energy storage. At use of superconductor in variable fields, energy losses owing to existence of heat in superconductor leading to decrease in critical current and, as a consequence, in the levitation force are inescapable. One of the key advantages of stacks of HTS tapes over traditional bulk HTS is the presence of a metal substrate and layers of silver and copper, which leads not only to high strength but also to suitable thermal conductivity of the stacks, which makes it possible to remove released heat efficiently. Investigation of mechanisms of control of thermal properties of the systems, as well as development of efficient methods of checkout of heat transfer parameters of the system at various rates of insertion of an external magnetic field, is a relevant objective. The results of calculation of the behavior of the stack of HTS tapes in an external magnetic field by the finite element method accomplished with use of the Comsol Multiphysics software package are presented in this work. Investigations of control of thermal properties of a levitation system are carried out, and also efficient methods of checkout of the parameters of heat transfer of the system at various rates of insertion of external magnetic field are developed. It is demonstrated that improvement of thermal and, as a consequence, levitation properties of the system can be achieved by the effect of both change in architecture of the stacks themselves and use of various configurations of the cryogenic cooling system. Various alternatives of implementation of the cryocooler cooling system and also various configurations of the stacks at liquid-nitrogen cooling are discussed. It is demonstrated that liquid nitrogen cooling is efficient so far as the change in temperature in the system is less than 3 K. In the case of liquidless cooling of the stack, the configuration with lateral cooling is optimal. The presence of a mechanical cooling passage in the form of a hole in the case of low rates of insertion of the magnetic field either leads to degradation of the system or does not have an effect on its properties. At increase in the rate of insertion of the external magnetic field, the presence of the mechanical cooling passage leads to increase in the maximum levitation force.

   The paper is devoted to the study of the influence of pulsed instability of neutron generation on the efficiency of small-sized transportable HMCs. Experimental diagrams of the spread of the neutron output per trigger pulse for PNG based on vacuum ATs with vacuum - arc and laser sources of deuterons are analyzed. The possibility of approximating the probability density of the distribution with an accuracy of units of percent is established. Mathematical statistics methods have been used to obtain functions that allow correcting the HMC readings, taking into account the influence of the dead time of detection systems and the dispersion of the neutron output of PNG.

   The Beam–Beam Counter of the Spin Physics Detector at NICA is proposed for local polarimetry and luminosity monitoring. The main option of the Beam–Beam Counter is the scintillation tiles with SiPM readout. The work presents the results for studies of scintillation detector prototype using two options of the front-end electronics. The estimation of time resolution using “time-walking” correction procedure is discussed.

   The micro-SPECT system with 2.5 mm spatial resolution, for a field of view of 57 × 57 mm, is presented, the results of tomographic reconstruction of calibration phantoms with Tc-99m solution are demonstrated. A description of the phantoms design that can be used to assess the quality of the SPECT system with a small field of view is given.

   The paper presents the results of the development of short five-band accelerating structures of IH-type with a fixed length of accelerating gaps, calculated at a frequency of 80 MHz and velocities of 0.06 c and 0.1 с. The issues of choosing the optimal length of accelerating gaps, the geometry of drift tubes and the system of fixing drift tubes, taking into account restrictions on the magnitude of high-frequency losses in the walls of the resonator and ensuring the field distribution on the axis, at which the field value in the extreme accelerating gaps is at least 50 % of the field value in the central gaps, are considered.

   One possible method of measuring the electric dipole moment of an elementary particle consists in measuring the average spin precession frequency of a polarized beam. The problem of maximizing the spin coherence time of a bunched beam is reduced to the minimization of the particles’ orbit length dispersion. This is achieved by introducing sextupoles with fields minimizing the chromaticity of the spin frequency. We have found experimentally that minimizing the chromaticity of betatron motion leads to the minimization of the chromaticity of the spin frequency. In this paper we explore this relationship.