F. J. SANCHEZ, Tecnatom, Spain

Abstract: Human reliability is directly related to the competencies of the personnel. A cornerstone of a new nuclear programme is to have available, on time, enough professionals with the necessary competencies.

This chapter will help readers foresee the need for human resources, which organizations are involved, which specialities will be more demanding, the relevance of the educational system and different strategies to cope with the lack of vocations, the changing in the specialization requirements in the nuclear power plant (NPP) lifecycle, the international effort to support such challenges and some key considerations to design and implement effective initial and continuing training programmes.

Key words: human resources, competencies, knowledge management, education and training.

6.1 Introduction

Within the justification concept, safety and reliability are two cornerstone issues. In both, human reliability is always implicit. This important factor, human reliability, is directly related to the competencies of the personnel.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA, 2009a) defines ‘com­petencies’ as a ‘combination of knowledge, skills and attitudes in a particu­lar field, which, when acquired, allows a person to perform a job or task to identified standards. Competencies are developed through a combination of education, experience and training.’

No new nuclear programme will succeed if not enough personnel, having suitable competencies, are allocated on time to accomplish their duties with full responsibility. In the nuclear renaissance, solving this problem could constitute a bottle neck as important as competing for a slot in a vessel head forge or even more.

This chapter will help readers foresee the need for human resources, which organizations are involved, which specialities will be more demand­ing, the relevance of the educational system and different strategies to cope with the lack of vocations, the changing in the specialization requirements in the nuclear power plant (NPP) lifecycle, the international effort to support such challenges, and some key considerations in designing and implementing effective initial and continuing training programmes.

The relevance of developing strategic human resources planning at an earlier stage of the project, and the specific factors to take into considera­tion when planning, are addressed in Section 6.2. The core of the section reveals the appropriate staffing of the different nuclear stakeholders to carry out their mission. Among the nuclear stakeholders are included the human resources requirements of political decision makers, regulatory authorities, educational and training organizations, research centres, utili­ties, engineering and service companies, main suppliers and equipment vendors, construction companies, plant operators, nuclear fuel cycle and waste management companies.

Section 6.3 focuses on the nuclear education programmes, including the research and development (R&D) projects as a natural source to create new nuclear knowledge, the support provided by the national educational system, including the universities and the vocational schools, and strategies to enhance the education system to attract new vocations. Finally, national initiatives in different countries to promote nuclear knowledge are introduced.

The importance of knowledge management is discussed in Section 6.4 in connection with the changes of specialization requirements throughout the NPP lifecycle. The study is conducted in four different stages: engineering and licensing, construction and commissioning, plant operation, and decom­missioning, where according to the different tasks and activities to be under­taken, the corresponding level of education and speciality for professionals, technicians and craftsmen is identified.

The benefit of international collaboration is the starting point for Section 6.5. The relevance of the Institute of Nuclear Power Operation (INPO) as a reference for personnel training and qualifications, the common education and training efforts at the level of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) or EURATOM FP-7 among others, and the international networks of excellence in education and training are the topics covered in this section.

Section 6.6 describes the main features to design effective initial and sustained training programmes based on the international standard of the Systematic Approach to Training (SAT). An important part of the section is devoted to discovering the elements to create a comprehensive training system, such as training regulatory requirements, training organization, management and staffing, training programmes and materials, instructors and training facilities and training tools, including simulators. In conclusion, the section suggests that training as a strategic tool for human performance improvement be taken into consideration.

Sources of further information, including important specialized websites, and the references used in this chapter are included in Sections 6.7 and 6.8 respectively.