National Analytical Management Program of the U.S. Department of Energy: Education and Training Subcommittee Activities

The National Analytical Management Program (NAMP) of the US Department of Energy (DOE), as established now, draws upon the capabilities and strengths of the DOE laboratories and makes these available to other federal departments and agencies responding to national emergencies. In particular, NAMP functions as a central coordinating body for ensuring the ready availability of excellent DOE resources in radiological sciences and analyses. Quick response to perform “quality” analyses of radioactive materials is demanded of the partners in the program. In other words, the scientists and technicians associated with the program must remain in a state of readiness at all times. In structuring the NAMP program, it was recognized that continuing education and training of the workforce is not only desirable but essential to the successful realization of the objectives of the program. Furthermore, to assure long-term preparedness of the nation to respond to emergencies, the education and training must be offered to potential new entrants, i.e., students in radiological and nuclear sciences. A subcomittee of NAMP on education and training was created to respond to the challenge of maintaining a well-educated workforce. A modest beginning was made in 2012 by offering a series of webinars, approximately once a month, with focus on actinide elements chemistry – radiochemistry, environmental chemistry, and analysis techniques. The webinar program has proved to be highly successful; with attendance exceeding 150 participants in each webinar. The NAMP subcomittee is now active in formulating the 2013 offerings. It is also exploring the ways and means to provide hands-on training in analytical techniques – to improve the skills of those already in the workforce and to train students - potential candidates for future workforce. These webinars are expected to be of interest to a wider audience - program managers, regulators etc. The workings of the NAMP education and training subcomittee will be the subject matter for this presentation.