On nuclear training and education prospering from the EURATOM Treaty

Abstract

This paper describes the past and present status of nuclear (safeguards) education and training activities undertaken jointly in the European Commission's Research Centre. Starting from the original training requests formulated in the EURATOM Treaty, it is explained how the Joint Nuclear Research Centre (JRC) originally started to develop nuclear courses. Whereas nuclear safety is a national issue, safeguards are a supranational one. The JRC contributed to nuclear safety training seminars in collaboration with national organisms while providing its major expertise on reactor design safety and nuclear fuel safety. Contrary to the national training and education on nuclear safety, safeguards training remained a niche for the JRC in Europe and even with limited competition worldwide. The JRC has more than 30 years of experience in providing nuclear safeguards courses to inspectors. Moreover, the lack of safeguards in the academic curriculum of nuclear students has recently been tackled by the European Safeguards Research and Development Association (ESARDA) and filled with a course hosted at the JRC. Fostering a twofold technical-juridical education in the European Union (EU) is compliant with one of the original roles of the JRC described in the EURATOM Treaty and fits with the current view of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).