Strategic agenda for EU wide nuclear education, training and knowledge management

The technical, regulatory and market complexities that govern the development, operation, decommissioning, waste management and oversight of nuclear power plants require personnel with outstanding knowledge, skills and motivation. Apart from being technical specialists understanding the installations of increasing technical complexity, the new nuclear talents must be prepared to work in increasingly multidisciplinary, multicultural and highly competitive environments. One would therefore expect that the attraction of new talents followed by the high-class education of nuclear professionals is a thriving activity enjoying strong support by all stakeholders.
An EU wide strategic agenda for nuclear education, training and knowledge management is being developed, partly within the ENEN+ project, to support and consolidate the efforts of the nuclear stakeholders to attract, develop and retain new talents. It considers the projections of needs being developed by the European Human Resources Observatory-Nuclear (EHRO-N) and builds on the existing national nuclear education strategies in EU and beyond and nearly two decades of experience of the European Nuclear Education Network (ENEN).
This paper outlines and substantiates the most important actions required for the EU to retain its leading role in the nuclear power and non-power applications. The sheer complexity of this challenge calls for high level of support, coordination and partnership between all nuclear stakeholders, especially those involved in the decision-making.