Year
2015
Abstract
Despite the Fukushima accident, the demand for nuclear power plant has continuously increased and now 67 reactors are under construction. Most of them have been conducted in Asian emerging states. To promote peaceful nuclear energy in this region, the human resource development is the most important. There are several existing educational programs already: Forum for Nuclear Cooperation in Asia (FNCA), Nuclear Technology and Education Center (NuTEC), etc. NUclear Power Infrastructure Development Program (NUPID), an educational program which has been constructed as a course for newcomer states, is designed to share experiences of Korea from the initial introduction of nuclear power to growth into the sixth exporting country. NUPID aims to facilitate confidence building and construct human network among countries by sharing experiences and knowledge within a similar geopolitical and cultural block. Since 2009, NUPID has been held five times and the number of participating countries has getting grown. In the case of NUPID-2014, there was active participation from 7 countries, Kazakhstan, Turkey, Malaysia, Vietnam, Mongolia, Japan and ROK, and 55 senior staffs working for government, national lab, university, and regulatory body in each states. Moreover, by engaging 15 universities, the program sets the stage for promoting academic and student exchange programs. The lectures cover various subjects including 19 and additional issues based on the classification of IAEA’s infrastructure. And technical tour is scheduled for visiting the major nuclear facilities in host country. The feedback from participants indicates what they really need and helps to find the agreeable solution for long-term cooperation in Asia. They agreed with some topics to be added and expanded including emergency preparedness, capacity building, public acceptance, cost analysis, operation and maintenance, decommissioning, and waste management. Ideas about more interaction between participants formally/informally, such as combining the training program and inviting more newcomer states were discussed as specific action plans for mutual cooperation. This follow-up study on annual NUPID can state the key point for relevant educational programs and show its applicability in other regions.