2009 Report to Government on National Research and

4. R&D SKILLS TO SUPPORT THE MRWS PROGRAMME
4.1 In keeping with its terms of reference and as part of its scrutiny of the R&D
undertaken, CoRWM is seeking <strong>to</strong> reassure itself that an appropriate skills base
is, or will be, available <strong>to</strong> the UK <strong>to</strong> undertake R&D and that R&D is integrated
in<strong>to</strong> skills development activities as an essential component in developing highlevel
skills (Section 1). R&D skills <strong>to</strong> support the MRWS programme have <strong>to</strong> be
viewed as part of a wider nuclear industry skills issue although some ‘new’ skills,
particularly those associated with geological disposal, will be required. As with
many existing skills, some of these new skills are available, and should be
transferable, from non-nuclear areas such as the hydrocarbon and civil
engineering industries. This section focuses on R&D skills relevant <strong>to</strong> MRWS but
against the wider nuclear industry background.
4.2 R&D skills cannot be considered in isolation from the basic training of personnel
and the two are considered in this report as integral components of the same
issue. Although an attempt is made in this section <strong>to</strong> separate basic skills training
from research training, the boundaries are inevitably diffuse.
4.3 Any attempt <strong>to</strong> review a continuously changing situation must inevitably date
quite quickly. The information below has been updated <strong>to</strong> the end of summer
<strong>2009</strong> as far as possible, except for those data lists where a partial update would
destroy the comparative basis.
Skills Requirements
4.4 A wide range of skills will be required for the long-term management of higher
activity wastes, spread across many disciplines. Among the more obvious in the
contexts of interim s<strong>to</strong>rage and geological disposal are nuclear science (including
nuclear physics and radiochemistry), the geosciences (including geochemistry,
geophysics and hydrogeology), materials science and civil and mechanical
engineering (including geotechnics and underground construction). Many
specialised skills will be required for the different phases of implementation of
geological disposal such as site characterisation, construction, operation and
closure of the GDF and significant R&D will be required <strong>to</strong> remove, reduce, or
quantify the underlying uncertainties so as <strong>to</strong> produce a satisfac<strong>to</strong>ry site-specific
safety case.
4.5 While the emphasis in this section is on the skills required for R&D, the wider
skills and training issues are also considered and it is CoRWM’s intention <strong>to</strong> deal
more fully with the specialist skills required for site characterisation and other
aspects of geological disposal in its future work programme. In discussing the
skills issue across the range of disciplines, it is appropriate <strong>to</strong> focus on those
aspects that are primarily nuclear related. However, there are many non-nuclear
aspects of, for example, the geological, materials and engineering sciences, that
are particularly relevant and these are dealt with in paragraph 4.35 et seq..
Nuclear Skills – Current UK Situation
4.6 Since 2000, a succession of reports on nuclear skills and training (e.g.
OECD/NEA, 2000; HSE-NII, 2002; NSG, 2002; Cogent, 2008) has identified a
number of concerns including:
CoRWM Document 2543, Oc<strong>to</strong>ber <strong>2009</strong> Page 63 of 151