Between 22 June and 3 July 2026, the Reactor Infrastructure Centre of the Jožef Stefan Institute hosted a group of students from Aix-Marseille University as part of the MOBIL-APP programme. 11 selected first-year students of the Master’s programme in Instrumentation, Measurement and Metrology (Filière Instrumentation, Faculté des Sciences) took part in an intensive two-week pedagogical, research and cultural programme focused on nuclear instrumentation.
The MOBIL-APP programme, led by Prof. Christelle Reynard-Carette, is carried out within the Excellence Nucléaire Sud project (Campus d’Excellence Industrie du futur – Sud) and is linked to the European CALORRE-TRIGA project, funded by EURATOM (OFFERR call). The collaboration involves the Jožef Stefan Institute, CEA IRESNE, the joint LIMMEX laboratory (Aix-Marseille University – IM2NP CNRS, CEA IRESNE, CNRS) and the ISFIN Institute. The students gained a deeper insight into the nuclear environment and actively participated in research activities, including an irradiation campaign of CALORRE calorimeter prototypes.
At the TRIGA reactor, practical instrumentation exercises were conducted, including measurements on primary water at the KATANA facility (supervised by Julijan Peric), work with sensors, semiconductor detectors (including SiC), optical fibres and neutron analysis. The students were welcomed and guided by RIC researchers and all reactor operators (Andraž Verdir, Marko Rosman, Anže Jazbec, Sebastjan Rupnik and others). The programme also included seminars by scientists and presentations by each student, a tour of the fuel pool and hot cells, as well as direct observation of the Cherenkov effect.
In addition to activities at the reactor, the participants visited a nuclear power plant, two high-technology companies (Instrumentation Technologies and Cosylab), and cultural sites (including Portorož and Ljubljana). The intensive programme connected education, research, industry and international cooperation, enabling the acquisition of key competences in the field of nuclear instrumentation.
This event continues the long-standing successful collaboration between Aix-Marseille University and the Jožef Stefan Institute in the areas of research reactors and nuclear instrumentation. Christelle Reynard-Carette followed and shared the progress of the programme daily on LinkedIn, providing an ongoing insight into the rich experience of the participants.
Such mobility programmes strengthen the European network in nuclear science and training and contribute to the development of future experts in nuclear energy.