THORIUM AS AN ENERGY SOURCE - Opportunities for Norway ...

Thorium as an Energy Source - Opportunities for Norway
ENEN's mission is the preservation and the further development of higher nuclear education and
expertise. The general goals of the ENEN Association are defined as follows:
With respect to the Academia:
• To develop a more harmonized approach for education in the nuclear sciences and nuclear
engineering in Europe;
• To integrate European education and training in nuclear safety and radiation protection; and
• To achieve better co-operation and sharing of academic resources and capabilities at the
national and international level.
With respect to the End-Users, such as nuclear industries, research centres, regulatory bodies
and nuclear applications:
• To create a secure basis of skills and knowledge of value to the EU.
• To maintain an adequate supply of qualified human resources for design, construction,
operation and maintenance of nuclear infrastructures, industries and power plants.
• To maintain the necessary competence and expertise for the continued safe use of nuclear
energy and applications of radiation and nuclear techniques in agriculture, industry and
medicine.
Within the framework of ENEN, a three week course is organized by four universities in the
Central European Region (Bratislava, Budapest, Prague and Vienna), called “The Eugene Wigner
course”. The Joint Research Centre Petten and the IAEA also support the course. The main
organizer of the course is the Institute of Nuclear Techniques of the Budapest University of
Technology and Economics.
The main emphasis of the course is to perform reactor physics experiments to enhance research
reactor safety on three different research- and training reactors in three different cities (Vienna,
Prague and Budapest). The experimental work is preceded by theoretical lectures aiming to
prepare the students for the experiments (Bratislava). The students' work will be evaluated, and
upon success the students will get a certificate.
11.5.5.3 The EURAC project
The Eu-funded EURAC project is a Coordinated Action of the 6th FP whose role is to strengthen
in Europe the scientific academic competence and analytical skills within radioprotection,
radiochemistry and radioecology and to secure the future recruitment of appropriately skilled
post-graduates to meet the needs of European stakeholders. Recommendations from the EURAC
project is currently followed up in collaboration with the ENEN association (EU funded ENEN-II
project) to initiated Master education within nuclear sciences for the benefit of European
students.
11.5.6 World Nuclear University (WNU)
“I am wholly in favour of the World Nuclear University. We are at the point where there is no
sensible alternative to nuclear power if we are to sustain civilization. Obviously to replace the
present use of fossil fuel with nuclear energy is a vast undertaking, and we will need a great
number of trained engineers and scientists. The University would therefore have to come first."
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James Lovelock