Background. According to the World Health Organization, 92% of the world's population lives in places where air quality levels exceed recommended limits. Recently, Ukraine had the most deaths per e...

After analysis of scientific literature, we defined that concept of “augmented reality” has following synonyms: “advanced reality”, “improved reality”, “enriched reality”, “mixed reality” and “hybrid reality”. Analysis of scientific literature and own practical experience of the use of augmented reality technologies application in educational practices allowed to state next: augmented reality technologies have a great potential for application in education; there are some cases of augmented reality use for school education; positive aspects of augmented reality technologies application in higher education institutions are confirmed by experiments (isolated cases); only few universities in Ukraine apply augmented reality technologies to educate students; only few universities in Ukraine have special subjects or modules in schedule to teach students to develop augmented reality technologies; various scientific events, mass events, competitions are held in Ukraine, and specialized training on the augmentation of augmented reality technologies is carried out, but this is non-systematic and does not have special state orientation and support. Features of introduction of virtual and augmented reality technologies at Sumy State University (Ukraine) are identified: “e-learning ecosystems” was created; in 2019, augmented and virtual reality research laboratory was established. Advantages and disadvantages of project activity in education are described: project activity is one of the most important components of educational process; it promotes creative self-development and self-realization of project implementers and forms various life competencies. It is determined that augmented reality application for implementation of educational projects will help: to increase students’ interest for educational material; formation of new competences; increase of students’ motivation for independent educational and cognitive activity; activation of educational activities; formation of positive motivation for personal and professional growth; conditions creation for development of personal qualities (creativity, teamwork, etc.). Current trends in implementation of educational projects were identified: most of the winner projects were implemented using augmented reality technology; augmented reality technologies were used in projects to teach different disciplines in higher education institutions. Augmented reality technology application for project activity has positive impact on learning outcomes and competitiveness of the national workforce; it will enhance the country’s position in the global economic space.

Analysis of informational provision level of complex environmental monitoring system in surveillance zones of Ukrainian NPPs was carried out. It was established that different subsystems are used for solution of monitoring tasks. The systems are separated, heterogeneous, hardware-software incompatible, and aimed at observation and state assessment of specific components of the environment and natural resources. Such situation is not in compliance with the up-to-date European requirements and standards for environmental monitoring information systems in areas of influence of man-made facilities. It is demonstrated that solution of this problem is possible by developing an information and analytical expert system for evaluation of NPP environmental impact on the environment (EcoIES). The main tasks that will be solved by EcoIES and its specific functions during emergencies or corresponding emergency exercises were described. The main requirements for the system are consistency, openness, standardization and adaptation. Specific requirements are the completeness and hierarchy of information, comprehensive integration and rational use, semantic unity, compatibility of system components, integrated security. Three options of conceptual approaches to creation of EcoIES have been developed, each of which is characterized by its structure, level of hardware-software provision and organization of information exchange. The option, which to major extent is in compliance with the European requirements has been substantiated, and which allows to fully solve radiation and environmental safety tasks, as well as civil protection of population, territories and the environment in the surveillance zones of Ukrainian NPPs. Therefore, this approach is recommended for further practical implementation at NPPs in Ukraine. The basic scheme of structural organization and interconnections between the EcoIES and other subjects of environmental monitoring that are part of the State environmental monitoring system has been developed.

The authors carried out a thorough study of the features of the spread of hazardous chemicals in the surface layer of the atmosphere in the event of an emergency at the site of a nuclear power plant. In order to ensure the continuous operation of the stations in their territories, various ancillary technogenic facilities are located and operate, which release emissions of non-radiation pollutants into the atmosphere. Under various negative circumstances of a technical and natural nature, emergencies may occur due to significant chemical pollution of the atmospheric air in and outside the sanitary protection zone. The prevention of such emergencies is based on environmental monitoring in the locations of man-made objects and their preventive forecast. Implementation of these measures is not possible without the use of effective methods based on mathematical models of environmental pollution by anthropogenic objects, and the hardware and software that implement these methods. The main stages of the development of information and technical methods of prevention of such emergencies are given and described. Different scenarios of emergencies are described as a result of the release of chemicals into the atmosphere at these sites. A conceptual scheme for the distribution of impurities in the atmosphere due to man-made emissions has been developed. The peculiarities of atmospheric air propagation under stationary and non-stationary emission conditions are described in detail. It is established that the most determinants of influence on the concentration distribution of impurities are: mode and conditions of emission, type of source, direction, and velocity of the wind, state of the atmosphere, chemical interaction with other substances in the atmospheric air, gravitational deposition, leaching of sediments, absorption of the underlying surface. surface, terrain. The results obtained will be used in the process of developing mathematical models for the propagation of pollutants in the atmospheric air from the emissions of nuclear power plants during relevant emergencies.

The paper states that various emergencies may occur at nuclear power plants under different negative conditions. Such emergencies pose a significant risk for the natural environment, health of personnel and the public of the adjacent territories. There are examples of the major accidents at NPPs worldwide, which lead to serious radiation contamination of the environment. It is noted that one of the main tasks of the Energoatom in the sphere of emergency preparedness and civil defense in the nearest future is to improve the systems and equipment, engineering, software and hardware support of the emergency preparedness and response system dealing with NPP emergencies. The improvement of this system requires the knowledge of causation chains of emergency progression in specific conditions. Therefore, the paper is devoted to the in-depth analysis of possible causes of different emergencies at NPPs that will allow the development of new and more efficient approaches and methods of their prevention. There is a definition of emergencies and their main types. The researchers analyzed a number of references on the studies in civil defense of radiation hazardous facilities and presented that despite the implementation of technologies and automated NPP monitoring systems, the threat of potentially hazardous situations remains relevant. Besides, the most significant are the emergencies that cause radioactive and chemical contamination of the environment. The paper provides the dynamics of emergencies in Ukraine and experience of applying the IAEA Unified System for Information Exchange in Incidents and Emergencies (USIE). It describes the main operational events at Ukrainian NPPs in 2017 and presents the distribution of operational events at Ukrainian and Russian NPPs. There are safety factors considering national regulatory documents and IAEA recommendations to assess the current safety level of NPP unit and the main causes of emergencies on NPP sites. The example of SUNPP-2 shows the quantitative characteristics of internal and external impacts on its safety. Provides an example of the system for prevention and mitigation of emergencies at Ukrainian NPPs, as well as lists its main tasks.

Ash and slag disposal areas of Ukrainian thermal power plants accumulate large amounts of waste annually. The aim of the present study was to analyze the composition of ash and slag wastes generated during combustion of coal at Ukrainian thermal power plants and the potential affects of disposal areas on the environment. A literature search was conducted using the Google search engine to access online academic publications indexed in Google Scholar, PubMed, Scopus, Clarivate Analytics (Web of Science), ScienceDirect, ResearchGate and Springer Link from 2011 in English and Ukrainian. After analyzing the 25 academic articles included in the present review, the results indicated that hazardous constituents (oxides of silicon, aluminium, iron, calcium and magnesium) of ash can migrate from the ash dump surface by air and water to contaminate the atmosphere, soil, groundwater and surface water in areas located within a few kilometers from the waste site. By-products of the fuel and energy complex of Ukraine are potentially dangerous sources of environmental pollution. They create risks to the health of the population living in the surrounding territories. Further studies should focus on the features of pollutant transfer from ash dumps, and development of appropriate mathematical models of the pollutant migration to assess pollution levels in soil, groundwater and air. The authors declare no competing financial interests.