TRAINING PRACTICES FOR CEA ENGINEERS QUALIFIED IN CRITICALITY SAFETY

摘要

Soon after the Tokai Mura criticality accident, the French nuclear authority addressed nuclear operators to take measures regarding criticality safety. In CEA in particular after a thorough assessment of the late 1990's - early 2000's practices, the decision was taken to put up a training program in criticality safety for young (and "old") nuclear safety specialists. The evolution of the training practices for the IQC (Ingénieurs Qualifiés en Criticité - Engineers Qualified in Criticality safety) are presented hereafter, beginning with the first training session set up in October 2001 until now. This primarily deals with the kind of audience this training addresses (professional background), what is taught, learned, used later on and how one becomes an IQC. Furthermore, a discussion involves who recognizes the qualification, how long does one need to become a real criticality safety specialist on an operational basis, how the staff uses (or not) the knowledge and how this ensemble contributes to the professional careers advancement (criticality safety is a strong "card"). The methodological documents in support of the IQC are also presented, particularly the last version of the "criticality guide fiches (files, cards, sheets)" collection which summarizes the main aspects and principles of criticality safety (including the rudiments of neutron physics, criticality control modes, double contingency principle, etc.).