The petroleum crisis in 1973 caused public opinion to swing in favour of the development of nuclear energy, since this did not depend on the imports of oil, and the costs of nuclear energy were becoming more and more economic. However, the accidents of Three Mile Island in 1979 and Chernobyl in 1986 caused a significant reduction in the support for nuclear energy leading to the construction of all new nuclear power stations in Europe being stopped.
The decrease of acceptance for nuclear energy has had a significant effect on education in the nuclear field, especially at the higher educational level since there was no longer the need for new human resources in the nuclear industry. This has led to a reduction in student numbers in courses related to nuclear energy, which in turn has led to the SUPPLY of human resources to the nuclear industry being reduced.
One of the aims of this report is to inform students about the higher educational opportunities in the nuclear field available to them across Europe, so that they can make an educated choice of a field to study and consider working in the nuclear sector. This report also provides a mapping of what is happening in the educational and research institutions in the nuclear field in the EU-27. This is intended to help academia and industry to know about the different initiatives, to be complementary to each other and to collaborate for a continuous improvement of nuclear safety and security.
In short, this report makes a contribution that allows both the SUPPLY institutions of human resources to the nuclear industry and the DEMAND stakeholders of these human resources to be aware of the existence of each other, to make contact, so that they can collaborate in making improvements in this sector.
The report gives factual information for each of the countries of the EU relating to the situation with respect to nuclear power, the higher educational opportunities available and the companies involved in the nuclear industry. Much of the work to produce the report was carried out before the accident occurred at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in March 2011. It is clear that this has led to a change in public opinion so that the support for nuclear power has reduced significantly. In addition, the future of the operating nuclear power plants and the need to build additional ones is being reconsidered by the governments in some countries. However, the factual information presented in the report describes the situation relating to nuclear power in each of the countries, the higher educational opportunities available and the companies involved in the nuclear industry.
The contents of this report will be published and updated on the website of EHRO-N at http://ehron.jrc.ec.europa.eu.
LACAL MOLINA Maria;
VON ESTORFF Ulrik;
2012-09-10
Publications Office of the European Union
JRC67016
978-92-79-22714-1 (print),
978-92-79-22715-8,
1018-5593 (print),
1831-9424 (online),
EUR 25160 EN,
OP LD-NA-25160-EN-C (print),
OP LD-NA-25160-EN-N (online),
https://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/handle/JRC67016,
10.2790/40915 (print),
10.2790/41101 (online),
