TRAINING OF SAFEGUARDS INSPECTORS AT THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION

The European Commission currently has about 200 staff members who carry out EURATOM safeguards inspections or technical work (either on a regular or ad-hoc basis) in EU nuclear facilities. Each year, around 10 to 20 new recruits join the staff of the Directorate ENER.E \"Nuclear Safeguards\" which is based in Luxembourg. Work as an inspector or technician requires a common set of training topics, as well as training in specialised areas depending on the type of installation or the type of technical work to be done. Training on new technologies or other updates in the work environment is also required for more experienced safeguards inspectors. It has also been observed that there is a continuous need for refresher training on specific technical subjects. In recent years, this all has led the Commission to devise a training scheme that, on the one hand, tries to be as structured as possible but that is also able to adapt quickly to evolving needs. It has become evident that the most efficient and effective way of providing such training is not only to rely on internal resources within the Commission but also to profit from the possibility of carrying out practical training at nuclear installations. EURATOM safeguards inspectors from the European Commission perform many inspection activities in the EU commonly with inspectors of the IAEA; common training is very relevant to both organisations. Moreover, the implementation of Integrated Safeguards in the EU Member States requires even more training courses where both the lecturers and the attendees are from the EC and the IAEA. Our present challenge is to find a way of preserving the wealth of experience of our current inspectors (a high percentage of whom will retire in the next 5-10 years), and to pass this experience on to the new team of inspectors who will join our service in the coming years. In order to bridge the existing and future skills-gap in nuclear safeguards training, focus must shift from the traditional provision of technical training by professionals to a more global approach, in which the organisation itself, and the transfer of knowledge is viewed as the priority for the establishment and the development of safeguards training. The transfer of knowledge between generations of nuclear safeguards workers which bridges the lack of formal skills is possible, but it depends on a sound analysis of the situation combining new analytical methods and a new framework approach.