[en] In the early 1990's, nuclear engineering programs in universities across the United States began to collapse. Whereas at the beginning of the decade, there were nearly 2000 nuclear engineering students studying in US colleges and universities, the perception that there was no future career in nuclear technology led to a drop in enrolments to less than 800 by 1998. At the same time, entire programs were closing and university research reactors were being shut down at a rate of almost one each year. A governmental decision was made to reverse this trend. Impactful investments in university research, scholarships and fellowships, and infrastructure - along with vocal support for this field of study from senior government officials and members of Congress - had an immediate impact. Enrolments grew quickly and later accelerated as industry began hiring aggressively. Today, there are around 5000 nuclear engineering students in US schools, many focused on medical applications, non-proliferation, fusion and other areas - including, of course, advanced nuclear energy technologies. The nuclear specialists emerging from these education programs arrived at just the right time, as governmental agencies, industry and scientific organisations rushed to prepare for retirements in the ranks of experienced nuclear engineers. The foresight to support nuclear education in the late 1990's averted what might have been a crisis in human resources by 2010. However today, as we review the situation globally, the potential for a crisis over the next decade in the availability of trained nuclear specialists seems extraordinarily high. In many NEA countries, training of nuclear engineers and scientists is on a steadily declining path. Once highly lauded programs have been significantly diminished or already eliminated. In some fields, such as nuclear chemistry - which is essential in the application of radioactive materials to support advanced medical applications and explore advanced treatments for nuclear waste - few programs exist anywhere. No matter what energy policies are chosen by NEA member countries, the long-term nature of nuclear power will require many nuclear specialists. The field of health physics, which is essential for the safe implementation of any activity involving radiological materials and process, including addressing nuclear waste and legacy facilities, highlights the risks now facing us. A survey last year of members of the NEA Committee on Radiological Protection and Public Health (CRPPH) found that the number of universities offering health physics degrees or courses in NEA member countries had dropped by more than a third over the last decade. The NEA has begun reviewing ways it can help its members address these challenges. The CRPPH is considering the establishment of an NEA training course to educate young health physicists on the intentions of the principle concepts of the radiological protection system. We are also engaging with the United Nations International Atomic Energy Agency to jointly organise courses for nuclear leaders. Most prominently, the NEA hopes to soon launch the NEA Nuclear Education, Skills and Technology framework, known as 'NEST'. NEST would enable member countries, to cooperate in the development of a new generation of nuclear science and technology specialists. Our plan is to establish multinational, multidisciplinary projects in a range of topics aimed at the development of practical solutions to real-world problems

[en] Both scientific and technical workers, equipment and materials of accelerators, targets and irradiation facilities, need to be protected from intense radiation fields. In order to do so, the radiation fields around electron, proton and ion accelerators, as well as spallation sources, need to be characterised through modelling, using today state-of-the-art methods. The following types of facilities are considered in this context: synchrotron radiation and very high energy radiation facilities, and free electron lasers. Recognizing the importance of the scientific and technical work in this area the NEA Nuclear Science Committee set up the SATIF expert group to examine the multiple aspects of modelling and designing accelerator shield systems. (author)

[en] A session of the NEA International Mentoring Workshop in Science and Engineering series took place at the National Research Nuclear University in Moscow, Russia. In collaboration with the Russian State Nuclear Energy Corporation, Rosatom, female university students engaged in direct conversations with successful women who are national and international leaders in their fields to discuss their career paths and experiences. With the motivation of improving the gender balance in technical fields, this series of workshops focuses on encouraging and retaining young women on track towards technical careers while also highlighting the importance of consolidating their technical and leadership skills

[en] The second NEA International Radiological Protection School (IRPS-2) took place from 19-23 August 2019 at Stockholm University in Sweden, and like IRPS-1 was strongly supported by the Swedish Radiation Safety Authority (SSM). This five-day course aimed at providing mid-career radiological protection experts with an understanding of the 'spirit' of the radiological protection system. International experts presented the nuances, history and between-the- lines meanings of international guidance and working experience, which will allow tomorrow's radiological protection leaders to appropriately apply the radiological protection system to address current and future radiological circumstances

[en] The NEA has an acknowledged role to assist its member countries in maintaining and developing, through international co-operation, the scientific, technological and legal bases required for a safe, environmentally friendly and economical use of nuclear energy. In this context, the NEA Committee on Nuclear Regulatory Activities (CNRA) provides a forum for senior representatives from nuclear regulatory bodies to exchange information and experience on nuclear regulatory policies and practices in NEA member countries and to review developments which could affect regulatory requirements. Public confidence in government and in risk management structures is important to all developed countries with an open society. The use of nuclear power in a democracy is built upon a certain trust in the political system and the national authorities. To foster and maintain such trust in a period of greater public scrutiny of nuclear activities, a number of nuclear regulatory organisations (NROs) initiated various processes to pro-actively inform the public about their supervision and control of nuclear activities, or when appropriate to involve the public in decision making. In 1998 the question was raised within the CNRA of whether public trust in the regulator might be very different from one country to another, and an activity was started among member countries to exchange experience and best practices and to learn lessons about NRO communication with their publics. Three workshops were organised by the NEA, and a Working Group on Public Communication of Nuclear Regulatory Organisations was set up in 2001. The activities and findings are summarised below. (author)

[en] The authors present the sixth study in a series on projected costs of generating electricity which analyses cost estimates for some 130 power and co-generation (heat and power) plants using coal, gas, nuclear and renewable energy sources. Experts from 19 OECD member countries, 2 international organisations and 3 non-member countries contributed to the study. The leveled lifetime costs presented and analysed were calculated with input data from participating experts and commonly agreed generic assumptions, using a uniform methodology. Key issues related to generation costs are addressed in the report, including methodologies to incorporate risk in cost assessments, impact of carbon emission trading and integration of wind power into electricity grids. (A.L.B.)

[en] There is an urgent need to preserve integral reactor physics experimental data including separate or special effects data for nuclear energy and technology applications, and the knowledge and competence contained therein. The International Reactor Physics Experiment Evaluation (IRPhE) Project was initiated by the NEA in May 2000 to this end. The purpose of the IRPhE Project is to provide an extensively peer-reviewed set of integral data related to reactor physics that can be used by reactor designers and safety analysts to validate the analytical tools used to design next-generation reactors and to establish the safety basis for the operation of these reactors. The benefits from the IRPhE Project are multiple. They include: preservation of valuable reactor data and technology; support of advanced generation reactors; access to data from different countries; significant cost savings. This work of the IRPhE Project is formally documented in the International Handbook of Evaluated Reactor Physics Benchmark Experiments, a single source of verified and extensively peer-reviewed reactor physics benchmark measurements data. The 2007 edition of the handbook spans over 15000 pages and contains data from 21 experimental series performed at 13 reactor facilities

[en] The NEA launched the Information System on Occupational Exposure (ISOE) in 1992 as a joint programme among countries interested in technical information exchange. The objective of ISOE is to provide an international forum for radiological protection experts from utilities and national regulatory authorities to discuss and coordinate international co-operative undertakings for the radiological protection of nuclear power plant workers. This paper discusses the products and services of the ISOE and presents the next steps for the ISOE Program. (A.L.B.)

[en] Many diverse technologies, currently serving nations worldwide, would be adversely affected if there was an inadequate number of nuclear scientists and engineers in the future with appropriate scientific and technical backgrounds and university curricula. (author)

[en] Ensuring public health and safety has been and will continue to be the cornerstone of nuclear power regulation. Economic factors, deregulation, technological advancements and government oversight are some of the elements that are leading regulatory bodies to review their effectiveness. Seeking to enhance the present level of safety by continuously improving the effectiveness of regulatory bodies is seen as one of the ways to strengthen public confidence in the regulatory systems. The first step taken by the NEA Committee on Nuclear Regulatory Activities (CNRA) was to hold in June 1999 an international workshop on 'Developing and Measuring Regulatory Effectiveness'. The main objectives were to improve knowledge about regulatory effectiveness in relation to nuclear installations, to establish a better understanding of how regulatory effectiveness may be measured, and to share experience in enhancing regulatory effectiveness. A key conclusion was that more effort is needed regarding communication issues and how the regulator can best establish and maintain a dialogue with the public. The issue of maintaining a dialogue with the public was addressed in a second international workshop organised by the CNRA in November 2000 on 'Investing in Trust: Nuclear Regulators and the Public'. Other issues such as internal quality assurance, the continuing need for international exchanges among regulators to ascertain whether regulatory effectiveness can actually be measured and provide meaningful results, and the concept of regulatory independence were also regarded as significant issues. In order to address these and other issues. the CNRA set up a task group of senior-level regulators to take an in-depth look at the basic concepts underlying regulatory effectiveness, advances being made and future requirements. (authors)