TRAINING OF SAFEGUARDS INSPECTORS AT THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION

摘要

The European Commission currently has about 200 staff members who carry out EURATOMsafeguards inspections or technical work (either on a regular or ad-hoc basis) in EU nuclearfacilities. Each year, around 10 to 20 new recruits join the staff of the Directorate ENER.E"Nuclear Safeguards" which is based in Luxembourg. Work as an inspector or technicianrequires a common set of training topics, as well as training in specialised areas depending onthe type of installation or the type of technical work to be done. Training on new technologies orother updates in the work environment is also required for more experienced safeguardsinspectors. It has also been observed that there is a continuous need for refresher training onspecific technical subjects. In recent years, this all has led the Commission to devise a trainingscheme that, on the one hand, tries to be as structured as possible but that is also able to adaptquickly to evolving needs. It has become evident that the most efficient and effective way ofproviding such training is not only to rely on internal resources within the Commission but alsoto profit from the possibility of carrying out practical training at nuclear installations.EURATOM safeguards inspectors from the European Commission perform many inspectionactivities in the EU commonly with inspectors of the IAEA; common training is very relevant toboth organisations. Moreover, the implementation of Integrated Safeguards in the EU MemberStates requires even more training courses where both the lecturers and the attendees are fromthe EC and the IAEA.Our present challenge is to find a way of preserving the wealth of experience of our currentinspectors (a high percentage of whom will retire in the next 5-10 years), and to pass thisexperience on to the new team of inspectors who will join our service in the coming years.In order to bridge the existing and future skills-gap in nuclear safeguards training, focus mustshift from the traditional provision of technical training by professionals to a more globalapproach, in which the organisation itself, and the transfer of knowledge is viewed as thepriority for the establishment and the development of safeguards training. The transfer ofknowledge between generations of nuclear safeguards workers which bridges the lack of formalskills is possible, but it depends on a sound analysis of the situation combining new analyticalmethods and a new framework approach.