Graduate nuclear engineering programmes motivate educational and research activities

248 Pages·2000·1.364 MB·English

by  OECD

Nuclear Regulation
A
ssuring Nuclear Safety
Competence into the
21 Century
st
Workshop Proceedings
Budapest, Hungary
12-14 October 1999
N U C L E A R • E N E R G Y • A G E N C Y
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OECD PROCEEDINGS
A N S
SSURING UCLEAR AFETY
C I T
OMPETENCE NTO HE
21ST C
ENTURY
Hungarian Atomic Energy Authority
Nuclear Safety Directorate
Budapest, Hungary
12-14 October 1999
NUCLEAR ENERGY AGENCY
ORGANISATION FOR ECONOMIC CO-OPERATION AND DEVELOPMENT
ORGANISATION FOR ECONOMIC CO-OPERATION AND DEVELOPMENT
Pursuant to Article 1 of the Convention signed in Paris on 14th December 1960, and which came into force
on 30th September 1961, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) shall promote policies
designed:
− to achieve the highest sustainable economic growth and employment and a rising standard of living in
Member countries, while maintaining financial stability, and thus to contribute to the development of
the world economy;
− to contribute to sound economic expansion in Member as well as non-member countries in the process
of economic development; and
− to contribute to the expansion of world trade on a multilateral, non-discriminatory basis in accordance
with international obligations.
The original Member countries of the OECD are Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany,
Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey,
the United Kingdom and the United States. The following countries became Members subsequently through accession
at the dates indicated hereafter: Japan (28th April 1964), Finland (28th January 1969), Australia (7th June 1971), New
Zealand (29th May 1973), Mexico (18th May 1994), the Czech Republic (21st December 1995), Hungary (7th May
1996), Poland (22nd November 1996) and the Republic of Korea (12th December 1996). The Commission of the
European Communities takes part in the work of the OECD (Article 13 of the OECD Convention).
NUCLEAR ENERGY AGENCY
The OECD Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA) was established on 1st February 1958 under the name of the
OEEC European Nuclear Energy Agency. It received its present designation on 20th April 1972, when Japan became its
first non-European full Member. NEA membership today consists of 27 OECD Member countries: Australia, Austria,
Belgium, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy,
Japan, Luxembourg, Mexico, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Republic of Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland,
Turkey, the United Kingdom and the United States. The Commission of the European Communities also takes part in
the work of the Agency.
The mission of the NEA is:
− to assist its Member countries in maintaining and further developing, through international co-
operation, the scientific, technological and legal bases required for a safe, environmentally friendly and
economical use of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes, as well as
− to provide authoritative assessments and to forge common understandings on key issues, as input to
government decisions on nuclear energy policy and to broader OECD policy analyses in areas such as
energy and sustainable development.
Specific areas of competence of the NEA include safety and regulation of nuclear activities, radioactive
waste management, radiological protection, nuclear science, economic and technical analyses of the nuclear fuel cycle,
nuclear law and liability, and public information. The NEA Data Bank provides nuclear data and computer program
services for participating countries.
In these and related tasks, the NEA works in close collaboration with the International Atomic Energy
Agency in Vienna, with which it has a Co-operation Agreement, as well as with other international organisations in the
nuclear field.
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FOREWORD
In its 1998 report on new future regulatory challenges, the NEA Committee on Nuclear
Regulatory Activities (CNRA) has identified the human element as one of the most critical aspects of
maintaining regulatory effectiveness, efficiency and quality of work. There is a need to preserve
among the staff a collective knowledge in all relevant technical disciplines with sufficient depth to
permit adequate independent assessment of safety issues.
Quality organisations require well educated, well trained and well motivated staff. In some
countries, national R&D programmes are being reduced to such a point that forming an independent
regulatory position might be in jeopardy. If a significant problem occurred over the next ten years,
there might not be sufficient knowledge and capability to deal with it in a timely manner if the current
trend continues.
Based on these concerns CNRA recommended that a workshop should be organised in 1999
to consider the most efficient approach to recruiting, training and retaining safety staff, and preserving
a critical mass of knowledge, both within industry and regulatory bodies.
The Workshop on Assuring Nuclear Safety Competence into the 21st Century was held from
12th to 14th October 1999 in Budapest, Hungary, under the sponsorship of the CNRA. It was
organised in collaboration with the Hungarian Atomic Energy Authority.
The meeting was held as a workshop, that is, contributions, to the papers or the discussions,
were welcome, and encouraged, from all participants. The objective was to produce specific
recommendations. The first part of the meeting was restricted to invited papers which provided the
basic data from which options could be considered to establish the recommendations. The scope of the
meeting included all aspects of maintaining competence across the nuclear industry as a whole
including regulators, utilities and technical support organisations. The aim was to use existing
information to profile the situation and to look ahead to the future and identify methods of ensuring
that safety is not compromised.
The overall aim of the meeting was to increase the awareness amongst Member countries
that failure to maintain nuclear competence is a long-term safety issue. As part of this aim the specific
objectives were:
(cid:1) to exchange information on maturity of nuclear competencies across Member countries
and establish current good practice;
(cid:1) to identify methods of maintaining competencies across all sectors of the industry;
(cid:1) to develop clear recommendations which provide solutions for the short term and build
for the future.
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The General Chairman of the Workshop was Mr. Steve Griffiths (Nuclear Safety
Directorate, HSE, UK). He was assisted by an Organising Committee composed of:
(cid:1) Dr. Thomas H. Isaacs (LLNL, USA).
(cid:1) Dr. Hartmut Klonk (BfS, Germany).
(cid:1) Dr. Klaus Kollath (GRS, Germany).
(cid:1) Mr. Géza Macsuga (HAEA, Hungary).
(cid:1) Dr. Lasse Reiman (STUK, Finland).
(cid:1) Mr. Manuel Rodriguez (CSN, Spain).
(cid:1) Mr. Jacques Royen (OECD/NEA).
The role of the Organising Committee was to select invited papers, evaluate the abstracts of
papers submitted to the Workshop, organise the Sessions and draw the final Programme, appoint
Session Chairmen, etc. The Organising Committee also wrote the Summary and Conclusions of the
meeting, and recommendations to the CNRA.
Acknowledgements
We would like to express our thanks to the Organising Committee, the Session Chairmen
and all those who contributed to the success of the Workshop by presenting their work and taking an
active part in the discussions. Our gratitude goes to the Hungarian Atomic Energy Authority for
hosting the meeting and for their kind hospitality. Special thanks are due to Ms. Teréz Orban for
taking care of the local arrangements as well as to Miss Anastasia Slojneva for their dedication in
preparing and editing these proceedings. The NEA also wishes to express its gratitude to the
Government of Japan for facilitating the production of this report.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Foreword.......................................................................................................................................... 3
Executive Summary........................................................................................................................ 9
Summary And Conclusions............................................................................................................ 11
Opening Addresses.......................................................................................................................... 25
L. Vöröss (HAEA)....................................................................................................................... 27
J.S. Griffiths, General Chairman of the Workshop...................................................................... 29
J. Royen (OECD/NEA)................................................................................................................ 31
Introductory Session....................................................................................................................... 33
Chairman: Dr. L. Vöröss (Hungary)
J.S. Griffiths
Background to the Workshop: Purpose and Objectives................................................ 35
J. Furness
Nuclear Regulatory Challenges or Who Should We Train and
Why – a Regulatory Perspective................................................................................... 41
T.H. Isaacs
Survey and Analysis of Education in the Nuclear Field............................................... 47
G.J. Brown
Status of Nuclear Engineering Education in the United States..................................... 59
S. Ion
Partnership for Success: Solving the Problems Together............................................. 63
A. Hanti
The Nuclear Industry and the Young Generation......................................................... 73
J. Royen
Managing Nuclear Safety Research Facilities and Capabilities in a Changing
Nuclear Industry : the Contribution of OECD/NEA..................................................... 81
A. Alonso Santos
International Organisations Assure Nuclear Safety Competence................................. 87
L. Vöröss
Highlights of the Introductory Session......................................................................... 95
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Session A: How To Incorporate New Safety Capabilities Through Education
and Training................................................................................................................ 97
Chairman: Prof. Z. Szatmáry (Hungary)
D. R. Weaver
Training at the Masters Degree Level in Physics and Technology of Nuclear
Reactors in the UK........................................................................................................ 99
M. Giot
Postgraduate Education in Nuclear Engineering: Towards a European Degree...........109
B. Mavko
Graduate Nuclear Engineering Programmes Motivate Educational and Research
Activities.......................................................................................................................117
G. S. Alcocer Gómez
Dissemination of Opportunities in Nuclear Science and Technology in Mexico.........125
I. Aro and T. Mazour
The Role of the International Atomic Energy Agency in Maintaining Nuclear
Safety Competence.......................................................................................................133
Z. Szatmáry
Highlights of Session A................................................................................................143
Session B: How To Maintain And Continuously Develop Existing Safety Capabilities.........145
Chairman: Mr. J. Furness (UK)
AJ.H.. Goddard and C.R.E. de Oliveira
Nuclear Energy and Related Research in Universities; Achieving the Intellectual
and Funding Framework...............................................................................................147
M. Kim, J.-I. Lee and Y.-H. Hah
Challenge and Endeavor to Nuclear Safety Competence in Korea: for Now
and into the 21st Century..............................................................................................153
T. Vanttola and L. Mattila
Ways to Maintain Nuclear Safety Competence in Finland...........................................163
E. Patrakka
Maintaining Staff Competence – A NPP Operator Viewpoint.....................................171
G. Löwenhielm and G. Svensson
Assuring Nuclear Safety Competence into the 21st Century
– a Swedish Perspective................................................................................................181
A .Omar, N. Bélisle and I. Grant
Promoting a Learning Culture to Maintain the Nuclear Safety Competence
of AECB Staff...............................................................................................................193
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I. Kiss
Training System Enhancement for Nuclear Safety at Paks NPP..................................203
R.J. van Santen
Assuring Nuclear Competence in the Netherlands.......................................................207
C. Vitanza (presented by Ms. L. Moen)
Experience with Generational Changes and Enhancement of Competence
at the OECD Halden Reactor Project............................................................................213
B.J. Furness
Highlights of Session B................................................................................................225
Session C: How To Establish Nuclear Safety Capabilities To Meet Future Challenges.........227
Chairman: Dr. T.H. Isaacs (USA)
P. D. Storey (presented by J.S. Griffiths)
Main Conclusions of a Seminar on Managing Technical Resources in a Changing
Nuclear Industry held in London on 29 September 1999.............................................229
J.S. Griffiths
Current Positions in OECD Member Countries on Competence Profiles and
Requirements for the Future : Review of Questionnaire Responses.............................233
T.H. Isaacs
Highlights of Session C................................................................................................239
List of Participants..........................................................................................................................241
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