Educational and Training Needs in Radioactive Waste Management

1
Educational and Training Needs in Radioactive
Waste Management

• Irena Mele
• Agency for Radwaste Management, Ljubljana,
  Slovenia
• Borut Mavko, Igor Jencic
• Joef Stefan Institute, Ljubljana, Slovenia

2
Outline

• Background
• What, Who and How
• Survey method
• Results and discussion - general
• The case of Slovenia
• Conclusions

3
Background

• expertise in radioactive waste management (RWM)
  has grown in last decades
• due to stagnation of nuclear industry, skills and
  expertise are not passed to young generations
• transfer of knowledge in RWM particularly
  important due to large time scales
• Coordinated action on Education and Training in
  RADiation protection and radioactive waste
• CETRAD - a 6th Framework Programme

4
What, Who and How

• Objective
• to investigate and assess current position of RWM
  education and training (ET)
• focus on geological disposal
• develop proposals for structuring and delivering
  ET
• 17 participating European countries
• Cardiff University, UK, coordinator
• each country National Correspondent
• (Slovenia Dr Irena Mele)
• Data on ET needs and possibilities obtained
  through a set of questionnaires

5
Survey method

• 1st questionnaire
• training needs
• capabilities and activities
• general observations
• National correspondents collected responses from
  all organizations employing RWM staff
• national RWM organization
• other nuclear industry organizations
• regulatory and government advisory bodies
• Some weaknesses/gaps in responses to 1st
  questionnaire
• subjectivity in interpretation of the questions
• differences in national perceptions
• provision of non specific / lack of quantitative
  data
• specialization and qualification references very
  different
• Two additional questionnaires
• Internal meeting with reports of national
  correspondents

6
Results Training needs

• National RWM organizations
• average specialist staff 60 (total almost 700)
• majority qualified to PhD level
• 30-50 years old
• broad training, wide variety of subjects
• on-the-job training
• Other nuclear industry organizations
• total 7000 specialist staff
• technical degrees and qualifications
• ET ad hoc on-the-job, conferences etc.
• Regulatory and government advisory bodies
• more than 600 specialist staff
• PhD and MSc qualifications
• broad training in RWM necessary on-the-job
  training key component

7
Results capabilities and activities

• 66 universities providing education in RWM
• higher level degrees (MSc, PhD)
• university courses accredited by the Bologna
  process
• 16 training centers or similar organizations
• courses dependent on demand
• 5 30 participants/course
• non-university ET uncoordinated and disjointed
• no courses provide a qualification in RWM
• each country has RWM modules or lectures
  available
• most countries consider feasible to teach in
  English
• on-the-job training nevertheless important

8
The case of Slovenia

• lately, nuclear acknowledged in the energy mix
• consequently nuclear education regaining
  significance
• ET needs adjusted to the size of nuclear program
• nuclear education mostly on postgraduate level
• Faculty of mathematics and physics, Ljubljana
• RWM module in broader Nuclear engineering course
• member of ENEN association
• nuclear training
• Nuclear Training Centre Ljubljana (ICJT)
• Training department of Krko NPP
• several courses a year, linked to the industry
• nuclear technology, radiation protection
• some specialist training abroad
• on-the-job training

9
The case of Slovenia (contd)

• ET in RWM in Slovenia meet present rather modest
  needs
• no significant differences or deviations from
  other countries
• quality of education comparable to other European
  countries
• need of 25 new specialists in the next 5 years
• (new posts replacements of retired)
• the ageing problem has not been addressed in some
  organizations yet?
• ET can be given in English and available to
  third parties upon request

10
Conclusions

• 17 countries participated in the CETRAD project
• a minimum of 200 specialist staff expected to be
  employed in the next 5 years
• qualification requirements for RWM staff,
  particularly in nuclear safety and radiation
  protection
• new staff expected to have a MSc or PhD degree in
  classical scientific disciplines and not in RWM
• currently no specific MSc courses in RWM
• a specific course in Germany planned in late 2005
• an European level MSc in RWM worth further
  consideration
• Main features absent from current ET
• coordination of ET needs and provisions
• mechanisms to allow recognition and accreditation