atw 2018-05v6

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atw Vol. 63 (2018) | Issue 5 ı May DECOMMISSIONING AND WASTE MANAGEMENT 310 1) A few such examples are the JRC' Summer School on Nuclear Decommissioning and Waste Management', the ‘Technology and Management of the Decommissioning of Nuclear Facilities’ course at the AREVA Nuclear Professional School (Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Germany), the Belgian Nuclear Research Centre SCK•CEN courses on 'Decommissioning of Nuclear Installations', the 'European Decommissioning Academy' organised by the Slovak University of Technology, the CEA/INSTN international course on 'Dismantling Experience of Nuclear Facilities' and through the IAEA ad hoc training programmes and possibilities for e-learning. 2) ECVET or the 'European Credit system for Vocational Education and Training': http://ec.europa.eu/ education/policy/ vocational-policy/ ecvet_en.htm and competences in nuclear decommissioning, going from short professional induction training programmes to academic graduate and postgraduate courses. Time has come to support, coordinate, develop and promote them in a joint project. 2 Competeneces in nuclear decomissioning Decommissioning programmes are in general implemented over several years via a sequence of projects and activities of different nature (Figure 2). This explains, at least in part, the variety of the skills required. Those range from senior site managers, programme managers and project managers (including particularly the speciality area of planning, scheduling and cost estimating), to engineers (electromechanical, chemistry, construction, geology, ..), operational managers, safety managers (safety case and licensing), operational and technical staff (decontamination, dismantling, waste characterisation, treatment and transport, maintenance) and surveillance staff (radiological protection, safety and security). Complementary to operational staff, the usual important number of diverse contracts and their complexity will also require relying on competent contract management and legal support, as well as the implementation of an appropriate human resources management. In the transition phase from the closure of an installation to its de commissioning, part of the competences can be acquired by professional conversion of part of facility operating staff. But experience shows that companies embarking from operation to decommissioning face an | | Fig. 2. Decommissioning – a sequence of projects and activities of different nature. important cultural change. Targets are changing from operating and maintaining a facility using known technologies, to the dismantling and final demolishment of the installations. When moving to decommissioning, the nature of the work changes significantly and will require more flexibility. Activities become mainly project, cross discipline based, necessitating a broader knowledge, especially of new technologies. The available competences do not neatly map from operations to decommissioning and new recruitment or outsourcing is needed. The usual significant time scales of decommissioning processes require that specific attention goes into the long-term strategic planning of recruitment and training needs with an appropriate profile in terms of both time and scale. Obviously this approach is essential for the key disciplines for which currently a shortage is already experienced or is forecasted. A clear vision should exist on possibilities for personal career development, which can be facilitated by the various job opportunities that decommissioning activities can offer. Mobility of decommissioning experts is also an important factor to consider. Decommissioning activities are implemented sequentially. For some steps specific competences are required for a well-defined period, limited in time (which can extend up to a few years). There opportunities exist for teams of decommissioning experts to move from project to project thus maximising the cost benefit return to companies that develop the skills-base. 3 What are the education and training opportunities? The evolution of nuclear decommissioning activities over the last decades has triggered the development of several programmes, particularly in the three main 'nuclear' EU countries: France, Germany and the UK. Higher education in decommissioning and waste management is currently provided through PhD programmes and dedicated Professorships, through two-to-three year or postgraduate taught Masters courses focussed on decommissioning knowledge, dedicated modules in decommissioning integrated in a more general Master course in nuclear science or nuclear engineering or Bachelor degrees with specialisation (about one year) in decommissioning. Some programmes allow students the flexibility to develop also managerial skills aimed at running decommissioning projects. It is indeed essential to develop also non technical skills such as com mercial awareness, project organisation, communication, team leadership. Complementary to those education programmes which are addressed to students, several shorter vocational training programmes exist focussing on professionals having already a working experience in the nuclear field but whose job evolution requires new competences linked to decommissioning activities 1 . Decommissioning activities also require specific technical skills related to decontamination, dismantling, waste treatment, waste measurement, radiological checks and surveillance, transport, accountancy, etc... All these more operational hands-on skills require ad hoc training but they are, in general, organised by the industrial organisations or nuclear research and training laboratories. The education and training programmes are expected to grow to meet a future demand. This evolution will require more harmonisation of the outcomes and further enhancing the collaboration with all participants involved in decommissioning (industry, safety authorities and associated technical support organisations, waste management and decommissioning agencies, research centres). Academic education programmes with modules are weighted according to the ‘ECTS’ credits which importantly creates a high degree of transparency across the EU [2]. For vocational training programmes (aiming e.g. at specific job qualifications), the system ECVET 2 is being introduced for the identification and mutual recognition of the requested learning outcomes [3]. Where applicable, ECVET points are awarded to learning packages; some of them are developed for the nuclear domain. A harmonised definition of the necessary profiles needed in decommissioning combined with mutual recognition schemes across the EU could support the development of the adequate training modules and clarify the learning outcomes. 4 How to attract new talent? Trends in the evolution of the nuclear workforce in Europe have been analysed by the ‘European Human Resources Observatory in Nuclear’ Decommissioning and Waste Management ELINDER – European Learning Initiatives for Nuclear Decommissioning and Environmental Remediation ı Pierre Kockerols, Hans Günther Schneider and Daniela Santopolo
atw Vol. 63 (2018) | Issue 5 ı May | | Fig. 3. Decommissioning – a challenge requiring knowledge and skills. (EHRO-N), whose reports are published periodically [4]. EHRO-N statistics show that the number of students graduating in nuclear related disciplines has slightly increased over the last five years. The workforce of nuclear educated staff involved in decommissioning and waste management activities represents today only a fraction (< 20 %) of the total nuclear employment. Most of the human resources are dedicated to the operation of nuclear facilities, to R&D and to design purposes; decommissioning is still a ‘niche’ activity in the entire nuclear business. At a first glance, undertaking a career in decommissioning could be perceived as not particularly exciting; at face value it involves mainly clearing, cleaning and demolishing of reactors and facilities. This is often seen as less attractive than constructing something new. However, the finality of decommissioning is material recycling and environmental plus economic valuation, once a site is cleaned and can be released from regulatory control and reused for other purposes. Decommissioning can be challenge/problem led, due to the variety of issues to be resolved, requiring the mastery of a diverse set of knowledge and skills, with the development of a bespoke set of solutions (Figure 3). However, the many possibilities offered to study and to start a career in nuclear decommissioning are presently not visible enough. In addition, the on-going decommissioning programmes and the difficulties they face are in general presented too negatively, instead of highlighting the achievements made so far. Promotion could start by clarifying the existing education, training and career opportunities in Europe. Advertising the challenge and excitement linked to decommissioning could be stimulated and integrated within existing campaigns for the promotion of education and training. And more generally, promotion of decommissioning could be helped by improving the public understanding on its finality and as such presenting the activity in a more objective way. 5 Elinder The overall aim of the present ELINDER 3 project to start as of 2018 is to raise the interest of students and professionals and to stimulate careers in this important and emerging field, by offering a set of attractive theoretical and practical learning opportunities. In this sense ELINDER envisages to elaborate and promote a modular, coherent and commonly qualified training programme in nuclear decommissioning and pave the way for an ECVET application to well-defined decommissioning job profiles. The target audience for ELINDER are students at the end of their education cycle, young professionals at the start of their career and experienced professionals and managers who change their career orientation towards nuclear decommissioning. The programme will be achieved by pooling and enhancing already existing learning initiatives of different European partners active in the field of decommissioning. 5.1 ELINDER partners and actors The ELINDER concept has been created by the European Commission's Joint Research Centre in collaboration with European universities and institutes (Table 1). The IAEA has been participating from the beginning to the elaboration of the concept and will practically support the ELINDER project through its networks of experts, training tools and its technical cooperation programme. The development of the courses and the coordination of training will be led by the partners, but interested industrial actors and organisations will be invited for providing ad hoc lectures or practical case studies and exercises. Periodically, a round table will be organised to assess the lessons learnt from the programme in view of its continuous improvement. 5.2 ELINDER approach The project is conceived as an integrated set of learning opportunities. The training programme consists of a series of courses including lectures, practical hands-on exercises at the premises of the organising partners and visits to relevant facilities in the vicinity (Table 2). Five ' generic training modules' serve as a general introduction with a synopsis of the main decommissioning aspects. They are addressed to different audiences of starting professionals and one of them to students. Additionally 'specific, topical training modules' address more in detail specialised topics which have been identified as pinch-point areas, i.e. areas in which knowledge, skills and competences need to be improved. A complementary e-learning programme is in elaboration and will be based on existing courses. It will allow an introduction of students and professionals with a view to participate to future ELINDER trainings. The most relevant opportunity will depend on the professional experience of each participant as 3) ELINDER or European Learning Initiatives for Nuclear Decommissioning and Environmental Remediation, see webpage: https:// ec.europa.eu/ jrc/en/trainingprogramme/elinder SCK•CEN Studiecentrum voor Kernenergie – Centre d'Etude de l'Energie Nucléaire Belgium KIT Karlsruher Institut für Technologie Germany CEA Commissariat à l’énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives France UoB University of Birmingham UK STUBA Slovenská Technická Univerzita v Bratislave Slovakia UT University of Tartu Estonia NUVIA NUVIA France SOGIN Società Gestione Impianti Nucleari Italy ENEN European Nuclear Education Network association Europe ENSTTI European Nuclear Safety Training & Tutoring Institute Europe ENS European Nuclear Society Europe FORATOM European Atomic Forum Europe JRC European Commission Joint Research Centre EU | | Tab. 1. ELINDER Partners. DECOMMISSIONING AND WASTE MANAGEMENT 311 ELINDER – European Learning Initiatives for Nuclear Decommissioning and Environmental Remediation Decommissioning and Waste Management ı Pierre Kockerols, Hans Günther Schneider and Daniela Santopolo
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