An essential element of the national policy and strategy for safety is to ensure the necessary professional training to maintain the competence of sufficient suitably qualified and experienced staff.

The building of competence is required for all parties with responsibili­ties for safety, including licensees, the regulatory body and organizations providing services or expert advice on matters relating to safety. Competence is necessary in the context of the regulatory framework for safety, and can be achieved by such means as technical training, learning through academic institutions and other learning centres, and research and development work.

The State should make adequate arrangements for the regulatory body and its support organizations to build and maintain expertise in the disci­plines necessary for discharging the regulatory body’s responsibilities in relation to safety. In cases where the training programmes available in the State are insufficient, arrangements for training should be made with other States or with international organizations. The development of the neces­sary competences for the regulatory control of nuclear power plants is facilitated by the establishment of, or participation in, centres where research and development work and practical applications are carried out in key areas for safety.

The regulatory body has to have appropriately qualified and competent staff. A human resources plan should be developed that states the number of staff necessary and the essential knowledge, skills and abilities for them to perform all the necessary regulatory functions. The human resources plan for the regulatory body covers recruitment, staff rotation and the processes to be used to obtain staff with appropriate competence and skills, and also includes a strategy to compensate for the departure of qualified staff. To develop and maintain the necessary competence and skills it is necessary to establish a process for knowledge management. This process includes the development of a specific training programme on the basis of an analysis of the required competence and skills. The training programme in general covers principles, concepts and technological aspects, as well as the proce­dures followed by the regulatory body for assessing applications for licens­ing, for inspecting and for enforcing the regulatory requirements in a nuclear power plant.