Our colleague Marek Adamech from the Department of Structural Analysis was awarded at the conference in South Korea for his excellent presentation. He was the only representative of the Slovak Republic

Nearly 600 registered guests from 27 countries of the world attended the congress and more than 300 technical papers were presented in 12 technical sessions. One of them was a paper by our colleague, entitled "Utilization of Small Puch Test Method for Mechanical Properties Evaluation of Reactor Pressure Vessel Material for Mochovce NPP" about implementation of Small Punch Test samples into the surveillance specimen programs on Mochovce NPP for SE.  Due to the very small SPT sample  dimensions this method represents a very effective way to monitor and evaluate changes in the mechanical properties of reactor pressure vessel materials for reliable operation of the RPV during its lifetime, mainly when is a lack of the original RPV experimental material. These samples, together with other standardized samples, are placed in special capsules which are part of the irradiation chain in the reactor irradiation channels. The samples are subsequently put out at predetermined exposure intervals, tested and finally evaluated in the laboratories of the VUJE in Jaslovské Bohunice. The results are used by the NPP operator and the Nuclear Supervisory Authority to evaluate materials trends and the current state of RPVs.

This paper was awarded the Best Paper Award for outstanding presentation in the technical section T12 Advanced analysis by the conference programme committee and rewarded with a material and financial prize. The co-authors of the technical paper are Ing. Jana Petzová, PhD., and Ing. Dávid Slnek.

"Despite the fact that I took great care in the creation of the paper and the presentation itself, I did not think about the possibility of receiving any award at all. My surprise was even greater when my name was announced at the closing ceremony,” Marek Adamech said. “However, this award by no means belongs to me alone, but to all my colleagues in the Structural Analysis Department under the leadership of Ing. Jana Petzová, PhD., whom I thank for their excellent and creative cooperation. I also very much appreciate the fact that our company allows me and other colleagues to present the results of our joint work in international forums, and thus make a good company name in the world. I wish all my colleagues many similar successes.”

The winner Marek Adamech of VUJE at ICAPP 2023.