Commentary at the request of readers

On the execution of the JINR budget for 2023

Due to the withdrawal of Poland, Ukraine and the Czech Republic from JINR, as well as the suspension of Slovakia's membership, scheduled budget revenues for 2023 decreased by 10% compared to 2022. Despite it, budget expenditures for 2023 were scheduled at the level of the Seven-Year Plan in order to implement the main scientific projects of the Institute. In this regard, the JINR budget for 2023 was approved with a deficit of 22.5 million US dollars.

The main source of funding for JINR are contributions from Member States. The Russian contribution that accounts for almost 90% of all budget revenues, was paid in full in 2023, ensuring the financial sustainability of the Institute. Due to increasing sanctions against Russian banks, a number of Member States were unable to fulfill their obligations to pay contributions in 2023, so the total receipt of contributions amounted to 97% of the plan (plan - 197.2 million US dollars, actual - 191.1).

A significant increase in the key rate of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation in the second half of 2023 allowed to receive in the past year other income from placing temporarily available JINR funds on bank deposits and accounts in a much larger volume than originally scheduled. The total amount of other income received was $12 million that was three times higher than the budget plan. It compensated for the shortfall in contributions and ensured the receipt of total budget revenues in 2023 in an amount even exceeding the scheduled value (plan - 203.5 million US dollars, actual - 204.2).

JINR budget expenses mainly consist of personnel costs and material costs for the implementation of scientific projects and development of the engineering and technological infrastructure of the Institute. Personnel expenses amounted to $82.9 million against the plan of 107.1. The savings here were due to exchange rate differences. In ruble equivalent, all of the Institute's remuneration obligations were fulfilled 100%.

The actual average monthly salary at JINR in 2023, taking into account all budget payments, amounted to 113.8 thousand rubles. It increased by 4% compared to 2022.

JINR still experiences difficulties in purchasing high-tech equipment from foreign suppliers due to sanctions imposed against Russia. Contractors breaking current contracts, refusals to supply equipment, the need to find new suppliers, changes in supply chains, extension of delivery dates, difficulties with payment - all this affects the schedules for the implementation of scientific projects and budget execution.

Material expenses for the implementation of scientific projects were scheduled in 2023 in the amount of 97.1 million US dollars, of which 64.7 were used. I will briefly discuss the largest scientific projects of JINR.

42 million US dollars were scheduled for development of the NICA complex, of which 34.1 million were used. The funds were used to complete the construction of the collider building, to develop the engineering infrastructure of the collider systems, to complete the manufacture and testing of magnetic system components, to construct detector facilities and to build a new cryogenic compressor station. The underutilization of funds is due to the postponement of the delivery of pipelines and the completion of other work for the cryogenic-compressor complex of the collider and the extension of work on the construction of the cryogenic-compressor station. Overall, the execution of project costs was 81%.

For the development of the DRIBs-III cyclotron complex in 2023, 24.5 million US dollars were scheduled, of which 13.7 million were used. Work was carried out to complete the modernization of the U-400M cyclotron, the development of a cryogenic tritium target complex, the reconstruction of the U-400 (U-400R) cyclotron, the construction of a new experimental hall U-400R and the development of experimental equipment for this hall began, the construction of the DC-140 cyclotron was completed. The execution of project costs was 56%, but most of the funds were transferred to the 2024 budget for the implementation of the scientific programme.

For the development of the Baikal-GVD deep-sea neutrino telescope in 2023, 4.7 million US dollars were scheduled, of which 3.4 million were used. The funds were used to purchase equipment and materials to expand the capabilities of the telescope. Thus, at the end of 2023, two new clusters were installed and their number increased to twelve. The balance of unused funds in the amount of $1.1 million was transferred to the 2024 budget due to a change in the term of contracts for the supply of cable communications, hydroacoustic modems and photomultiplier controllers.

For the development of the IBR-2 nuclear research facility and the spectrometers complex, 4.2 million US dollars were scheduled, of which 1.3 million were used in 2023. In 2023, it was not possible to purchase equipment for the development of spectrometers due to the refusal of a number of contractors to make supplies under concluded contracts due to sanctions. Also, part of the work on modernizing the sodium cooling system of the IBR 2 reactor has moved to 2024 due to the need to extend the license for operating the reactor.

For the development of the Multifunctional Information and Computing Complex (MICC) in 2023, 5.7 million US dollars were scheduled, of which 4.6 million were used. Five servers with GPUs were purchased to increase the power of the supercomputer "Govorun" to 1.7 petaflops. Disk servers were purchased to increase the capacity of the data storage system. The volumes of the data storage system of Tier-1 and Tier-2 centres have been increased. Under the terms of a large contract concluded in November 2023 for the supply of equipment for a belt robot, payment was postponed to January 2024 that did not allow all scheduled work on the project to be completed 100%.

At JINR, work is underway to extensively develop engineering and technological infrastructure, for which 11.2 million US dollars were allocated in 2023. More than half of these funds were used for the reconstruction of electrical substations GPP-1 "Dubna" (VBLHEP site) and GPP-2 "Sestra" (DLNP site). The reconstruction of these electrical substations has been ongoing for several years in order to provide electricity to the experimental complexes and facilities of the Institute. In 2023, the construction of a new checkpoint building at the DLNP site for pedestrian access was completed. This year, a checkpoint will be built for cars. Work was also carried out on the construction of new sections of utility networks at the VBLHEP site and the reconstruction of utility networks at the DLNP site. Work has started on the construction of an access road to the VBLHEP site with parking for cars.

Electricity costs in 2023 turned out to be less than the scheduled amount (plan - 5.5 million US dollars, actual - 3.5). It is largely due to the fact that the technological launch of the NICA collider and the commissioning of the cryogenic compressor station, as well as the launch of the modernized U 400M cyclotron were postponed to 2024. In addition, there was a delay in the repair of the IBR-2 reactor that is scheduled to be completed at the end of this year.

In 2023, $6.8 million US dollars were used to repair buildings and structures. Of these, 3 million US dollars were used for the repair of buildings and structures in laboratories and 3.8 million - for the repair of general institute facilities. Among the large number of general institute facilities, we can note the completion of a major renovation of the new building of the UC (Vavilova St., 4a) in 2023, renovation of a large games room in the Sports Club, renovation of premises in the Conference Centre.

At JINR, focus is on strengthening scientific cooperation with Member States, with international scientific organizations, as well as expanding the geography of the Institute that is one of the guarantors of its further successful development. US$6 million was allocated for international cooperation in 2023. Of this amount, $4 million was used to pay for travel of Institute staff to Member States and other countries. Expenditures for conferences, meetings and schools amounted to approximately US$2 million. This is twice as much as in 2022 that is a positive trend. Also, expenses were incurred for the admission to JINR of scientists and workers of other categories seconded to JINR by organizations of Member States and other countries.

In 2023, the work on modernization of the structure of the JINR budget that focuses more on the areas of spending funds with detail by funding objects was completed. This approach should provide a more complete picture of the Institute's cost structure. First of all, about the costs of developing experimental complexes and facilities at JINR, the costs of implementing projects within scientific areas, as well as the costs of developing engineering and social infrastructure facilities. The new structure of the JINR budget was approved by the Committee of Plenipotentiaries and was used in 2024.

Nikolay KALININ, Director of the Department
of Budgetary and Economic Policy of JINR