IAEA Steering Committee on Education and Training Meets

The IAEA has taken notice of the nuclear energy dependence of the new European Union members. Five of the ten countries that officially joined the European Union (EU) on 1 May rely on nuclear energy to provide a fourth or more of their electricity needs, based on the IAEA's nuclear databanks.

• Czech Republic: Six nuclear plants are operating, two at Temelin and four at Dukovany, collectively supplying about a fourth of the country's electricity.
• Hungary: Four nuclear plants are operating at Paks, supplying about 36% of the country's electricity.
• Lithuania: Two nuclear plants are operating at Ignalina, supplying about 80% of the country's electricity.
• Slovakia: Six nuclear plants are operating at Bohunice and Mochovce, collectively supplying about 55% of the country's electricity.
• Slovenia: One nuclear plant is operating at Krsko, supplying about 40% of the country's electricity.

The new countries will add to the overall use of nuclear energy by nearly 450 million people in the expanded EU. Before the expansion, about one-third of the world's nuclear-generated electricity was consumed in the EU. As noted at a recent European energy conference, nuclear's future is mixed and countries face important choices. Beside the five new EU countries, eight others operate nuclear power plants - Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. Of these, four (Sweden, Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands) have introduced phase-out programmes, while Finland plans to build more nuclear plants.

More detail can be found on the IAEA Web Site:http://www.iaea.org/NewsCenter/News/2004/energy_eu.html

2nd annual meeting of the IAEA Steering Committee on Education and Training, Vienna November 17-21, 2003

The strategic plan on Education and Training in Radiation and Waste safety was endorsed by General Conference of the International Atomic Energy Agency in 2001. A resolution adopted in September 2002 urged the Agency to continue implementing the strategic plan for a sustainable education and training programme. As a consequence, the Steering Committee on Education and Training was formed with a remit to advise on policy development, the maintenance of the Agency’s training programme and the monitoring of the long term action plan. IRPA is invited as observer to the Steering Committee. In the first two meetings of this committee IRPA was represented by Christian Wernli, chairman of the IRPA task group on education and training.

In its second annual meeting, the Steering Committee concluded that much progress had been made in the development of training activities. Several issues were addressed during the meeting that are important for the successful achievement of the overall objectives of the strategic plan.

These issues include;

• The revision of the mechanism for the selection of students for IAEA training activities, notably the Train the Trainers Course (TTT) and the Post-graduate Educational Course (PGEC);
• the development of a mechanism for the identification of training needs of member states;
• the harmonisation of PGEC courses; and
• the development of a more appropriate methodology for the operation of the Steering Committee.

Overall status

A considerable amount of work has been undertaken over the past year in pursuance of the strategic aims for education and training. This work, which has been undertaken by IAEA staff, has focused on a range of key issues, including the development of an inter centre network mechanism, the creation of training modules, and the ongoing development of the various mechanisms of training provision (e.g. on-the job training, e-learning, appraisal system). The key milestones for 2003, the development and provision of train the trainers courses, and the development of training packages, were successfully achieved. The committee is of the opinion that the work programme is progressing satisfactorily and that the overall objective of self-sustaining training activities within member states by 2010 remains achievable. At present no amendments to the strategic plan and key milestones are considered to be necessary.

SUMMARY OF RECOMMENDATIONS

DETERMINATION OF THE TRAINING NEEDS

• The Agency should further elaborate the process for the analysis of training needs.
• The Agency should carry out a pilot appraisal to evaluate the implementability of the Education and Training Appraisal System (EduTA) and report the results back to the Steering Committee.
• The data for the performance indicators should be collated.

TRAINING MATERIALS

• The Agency should promote the use of the new training materials through all available routes, e.g. IRPA.

TRAIN THE TRAINER COURSES

• It is recommended that the Agency gives high priority to the further development and provision of regional and inter-regional TTT workshops.
• The participants should be assessed using the assessment sheet and criteria developed by the Agency.

INTER-CENTRE NETWORK

• The Agency should complete the Terms of Reference (ToR) for creation of an Inter-centre Network (ICN) of training centres.

E-LEARNING

• The material developed in the paper based distance-learning project should be adapted for use in the web based e-learning project.

AVAILABLE TRAINING MATERIAL OF THE AGENCY ON CD

REGULATORY INFRASTRUCTURE

• IAEA Training Course on authorization and inspection of radiation sources in research and industrial irradiators
• IAEA Training Course on authorization and inspection of radiation sources in nuclear gauges and well logging
• IAEA Training Course on authorization and inspection of radiation sources in diagnostic radiology
• IAEA Regional Training Course on authorization and inspection of radiation sources in radiotherapy
• IAEA Training Course on authorization and inspection of radiation sources in nuclear medicine
• IAEA Training Course on authorization and inspection of radiation sources in industrial radiography
• IAEA Training course on organization and implementation of a national regulatory programme for the control of radiation sources

PATIENT PROTECTION

• Radiation Protection in Nuclear Medicine (Version July 2002).
• IAEA Training Course on radiation protection in radiotherapy (RPRT), (August 2002).
• IAEA Training Course on radiation protection in diagnostic and interventional radiology (RPDIR), (August 2002).

SOURCE SAFETY AND SECURITY

• Radiation protection and safety in industrial radiography
• Radiation protection and safety at industrial irradiation facilities
• Concepts of radiation protection and the safety of sources

EMERGENCY RESPONSE

• EPRU Training Courses (Feb. 2002) – Vol. I: Classification, nuclear response emergency monitoring public information
• EPRU Training Courses (Feb. 2002) – Vol. II: National capability radiological response

RADIATION MONITORING AND PROTECTION

• Radiation protection distance learning project (May 2002). - Includes supervisor’s notes on some modules.

OCCUPATIONAL PROTECTION

• IAEA Training Course on Occupational Radiation Protection (Sept. 2002)

For further information see: http://www-rasanet.iaea.org/training/training.htm