Improvement of NPP Training to Ensure a Transfer of Critical Knowledge

Abstract

Maintaining nuclear competencies in the nuclear industry and nuclear regulatory authorities will be one of the most critical challenges in the near future. The adequate management of human resources, proper educational system and training approaches and methods to achieve and maintain the proper competencies of personnel are indispensable elements of knowledge management for nuclear industry. To transfer the knowledge from the experience to the newcomers, to establish the consistent links between the national educational system and qualification needs, to respond to the changes in the nuclear technology, to ensure the adequate level of corporate memory are the examples of the links between the knowledge management and the training. The paper presents the extensive information on the challenges, the nuclear industry encounters in the training and qualification (T&Q) of the personnel, and the good practises that are in use at nuclear power plants to respond to these challenges. The information presented is based on the experience from the IAEA OSART missions which review the training and qualification matters at the nuclear power plants among the other operational management programmes. IE/JRC-EC supports the OSART activities by providing the experts for the specific operational areas and participating in the development of the IAEA Safety Standards. New Project launched in the IE in 2007, SONIS (Safety of nuclear installations) is focused on the operational aspects of nuclear power plants, in particular maintenance, and the qualification and training of the maintenance personnel is of the particular interest of SONIS. The information presented in the paper is the result of the thorough analysis of the OSMIR Data Base. This database is a compilation of recommendations, suggestions and good practices from OSART mission reports, and covers all missions from January 1991 to the most recent missions for which an official reports have been published.