Education and Training

Overview

A broad range of different types of qualifications, competence and expertise is needed for every stage of a repository development programme as defined, for example, in international guidelines (e.g. the IAEA’s safety requirements WS-R-4 and safety guide for geological disposal of radioactive waste GS-G-3.4) and in national regulations.

In terms of suitably qualified and competent personnel, the geological disposal community is fairly small.  Many waste management programmes may be faced with a future skills shortage owing to an ageing workforce where many senior workers and executives are approaching retirement.  There is a lack of mechanisms with few national exceptions for formal education specialised in geological disposal that could be recognised directly in the different European Member States.  A solid basic education in one of the related technical or natural science disciplines is also seen as more relevant for the professionals in the field starting their career.  The geological disposal specifics are generally learned on-the-job.  The lack of formalisation and mutual recognition applies in a greater extent to training courses and other competence development activities undertaken by professionals in the field.  There are also few formalised strategies for transmitting knowledge and insights from senior workers to those with less experience and knowledge of geological disposal.  The IGD-TP can act to support recognition of learning outcomes, quality assurance of existing and new training schemes, and competence maintenance and development activities.

Objective

A more co-ordinated and formal approach to education and training in the field of radioactive waste management and disposal would be of benefit to various programmes, both at the national level and the international level, to complement existing efforts.  Updating and improving knowledge on radioactive waste disposal is a common interest of the IGD-TP and can be applied to all activities undertaken to address the identified RD&D topics.  The IGD-TP can co-operate with existing education and training activities through:

  • mutual recognition and accreditation of programmes which meet the quality level required by the IGD-TP;
  • defining requirements for the development of a framework for the mutual recognition and accreditation of training programmes;
  • contributing to the identification of needs, the inventory of available resources and the conception of training programmes; and
  • supporting existing and future European Fission Training schemes and other education and training initiatives and increasing the participation of their personnel in such schemes.

Related Documents

Related Activities

Action has been taken to improve the development and co-ordination of education and training in the field of geological disposal, and co-ordinated efforts have been made both at the national and international level to improve the education and training with a specific focus on geological disposal. Cross-European initiatives to improve education and training include European Fission Training Schemes (EFTS) funded by Euratom FP7 Framework Programme, and the training elements that have been integrated into the FP6 and FP7 collaborative projects like in the ESDRED project.  The Petrus II project, one of the EFTSs, focuses especially on geological disposal through mobilising resources from a strong partnership between academic and non-academic institutions. The European-wide network of universities forming the ENEN7 association have also developed courses both on national and European level with a European Master’s supplement, which have been accredited according to mutually agreed quality assurance principles of the association. For recognising competence and other competence-developing activities, including work experience across Europe, tools such as the Europass require wider outreach in the geological disposal community.  Within the Nordic countries, the entry of suppliers working on nuclear sites is facilitated by a training certificate recognised in all Nordic countries.  Such instruments reduce the need for overlapping training and the Europass scheme aims to have a similar instrument in all European Member States. In addition, co-ordinated efforts have been initiated on an international level including:
  • IAEA URF network of excellence – a training programme in demonstration of technologies for waste disposal in underground research facilities.
  • ITC-School Training Association – provides both theoretical and practical training and research in all aspects of science, engineering, decision-making and communication concerned with underground waste management and related environmental issues.
Activities and projects undertaken in this area by IGD-TP members and other parties include the following:
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ANNETTE

The aim of the ANNETTE project was to consolidate existing achievements and to tackle the challenges in ensuring a qualified nuclear workforce is available to support future nuclear energy, decommissioning and waste management requirements. The project delivered a number of reports exploring the needs of the sector and facilitated a number of networking events and the production of learning materials.
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SECIGD

The IGD-TP secretariat was established to manage the day to day running of the platform and support the executive group.
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SECIGD2

The IGD-TP secretariat was renewed for phase 2 to further support the work of the technical platform. This continued funding aimed to deepen collaboration and knowledge exchange between the waste management organisations and other stakeholders.
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SITEX logo

SITEX

SITEX was a two-year project that aimed to establish and develop expertise among technical safety experts, and through this, support independent regulatory reviews of geological disposal safety at national levels. Attention was also paid to harmonising the policies and programmes among regulatory authorities, technical support organisations and waste management organisations.
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SITEX-II

The co-ordination and support action SITEX-II was initiated in 2015 within the EC programme Horizon 2020 with a view to further developing the independent Expertise Function network in the field of deep geological disposal safety.
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PETRUS II

The PETRUS II project was a three-year project which aimed to enable present and future professionals on radioactive waste management in Europe, whatever their initial disciplinary background, to follow a training programme on geological disposal which would be widely recognized across Europe. In addressing the needs of the end-users, access to a combination of education (formal), continuous learning and professional development (non-formal) was offered and developed within the project.
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European Geosciences Union 2018

PETRUS III

PETRUS III (Implementing sustainable education and training (E&T) programmes in the field of Radioactive Waste Disposal) was a three year project to develop E&T programmes to meet the needs of the European geological disposal community.  The project built on and continued the work pursued by the previous two PETRUS projects.  As the final project in the PETRUS initiative, there was focus on the sustainability of implemented programmes.  The project aimed to develop accredited and recognised qualifications in the field of geological disposal and to support continuing research and training at the PhD level.
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European Geosciences Union 2018

CARD

The EC CARD (Co-ordination Action on Research, Development and demonstration (RD&D) priorities and strategies for geological disposal) project was undertaken to assess the feasibility of a technology platform that would provide a European framework for networking and co-operation in the field of RD&D for geological disposal of radioactive waste in the EU. The results and recommendations of the CARD project lead directly to the production of the 2009 Vision Document and the launch of the Implementing Geological Disposal of Radioactive Waste Technology Platform (IGD-TP).
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ESDRED

The Engineering Studies and Demonstrations of Repository Designs (ESDRED) project was a joint research and development effort by major national radioactive waste management agencies and research organisations.  The main focus was on demonstrating, at an industrial scale, a number of activities related to the construction, operation and closure of a deep geological repository for high level radioactive waste.
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OBRA

OBRA was a coordination action financed by the European Commission that was carried out between November 2006 and October 2008. The purpose of OBRA was to assess the feasibility of creating an Observatory for long-term governance on radioactive waste management in Europe.
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