The influence of nickel doping on the radiation resistance of silicon solar cells in the range of γ-irradiation doses of 10^5-108 rad was studied. It is shown that diffusion doping of silicon with impurity nickel atoms increases the radiation resistance of the parameters of silicon solar cells. It is assumed that the reason for the increase in the radiation resistance of such solar cells is the existence of clusters of impurity nickel atoms, which serve as sinks for radiation defects. Keywords: silicon, γ-irradiation, nickel, cluster, solar cell.