Security workers at the Kursk nuclear power plant have been given a lesson on how to shoot by Russian Olympic trap shooting gold medallist Aleksei Alipov.

The first inter-regional kyokushin karate tournament among Russian nuclear workers was held at the sports centre in Novovoronezh in late December. Kyokushin karate is a style of stand-up, full contact karate. Over 50 sportsmen from nuclear sites across Russia competed in the contest, some of whom were national and international championship medallists. Yuri Kalyapin from Novovoronezh nuclear power plant won the 70kg category, Aleksey Leonov from Atomtechexport won the 80kg category, while Denis Yershov from NIIAR (Dimitrovgrad) was victor in the over 80kg category. The tournament was the initiative of Sergey Kiriyenko, head of Rosatom State Nuclear Energy Corp and the program of the event also included a display by Cossacks, an exhibition by artist Vladimir Popov and a performance by the string quartet of the Voronezh State Philharmonic Society.

Nuclear-powered icebreaker the Arktika has been retired, shutting down its second propulsion reactor last week. The civilian ship was the first to sail to the North Pole.