The second annual Nuclear Engineering International magazine nuclear training awards is now accepting entries. The awards were launched to recognize excellence in the academic, vocational, and workplace training essential to maintain industry skills, and the recruitment of new workers essential for the future. Application deadline is 15 September.
"The future operators are not us, but young people," said Jacques Regaldo, chairman of the World Association of Nuclear Operators (WANO), who has also signed up to judge award entries, as well as four other industry experts.
The awards come at a time of great change for the industry. Many senior experts who worked in the golden age of civil nuclear power in the 1970s and 1980s are now retiring. By 2020, an estimated 92,500 new technicians, non-nuclear engineers and other graduates will be needed to replace the retiring nuclear workforce in the EU-27 alone, according to a European Commission report (Putting into perspective the supply and demand for nuclear experts by 2020 within the EU-27 nuclear energy sector,' European Commission, Joint Research Centre, EUR 25291 EN, 2012. (http://tinyurl.com/mzvetjb)) co-authored by Ulrik von Estorff from the EC Institute of Energy and Transport European Human Resources Observatory for the nuclear energy sector, who is also a judge in the awards. Academic and vocational training programmes ensure that new recruits understand nuclearculture and nuclear standards.
Also, an industry that demands a culture of continuous improvement, as promoted by the Institute of Nuclear Power Operators (INPO), among others, must continue to spread knowledge and best practice. Professional training could play an important part in those initiatives.
So Nuclear Engineering International magazine's nuclear training awards aims to recognize excellence in nuclear power education and training. Free to enter, the awards are open to any kind of civil nuclear education, and to the entire civil nuclear industry, from front-end fuel cycle to generation to radwaste management to supply chain.
The awards are split into six categories:
- Apprenticeship of the year
- Industry skills programme of the year
- Simulator training programme of the year (NEW)
- Training course of the year (up to two weeks/ two weeks-six months / longer than six months)
- Workplace/continuous professional development training course of the year
Each award is judged on specific criteria, such as engagement with company culture, strategic importance of target group, mentor quality, and so on.
Our expert panel of judges will choose the best training programmes in the industry. Winners will be profiled in detail in NEI magazine, receive a certificate suitable for framing, and be offered valuable extra promotion.
In addition to WANO's Jacques Regaldo, and the Institute of Energy's Ulrik von Estorff, the awards judges include:
-Ronald Knief
Sandia National Laboratories TA-V Nuclear Facility Training Coordinator & Nuclear Criticality Safety Engineer, New Mexico 2012 winner of Robert L. Long Training Excellence Award (from the American Nuclear Society) Author, Nuclear Engineering: Theory and Technology of Commercial Nuclear Power, 2nd Edition
-David Whitmore
Engineering and technical director, Atkins (UK) Winner, Outstanding Leadership in Skills, 2013 Cogent and National Skills Academy for Nuclear (UK) awards
-James Varley
Group managing editor, Global Trade Media; former editor, Nuclear Engineering International magazine (1984-1998)
For more information, or to download application forms, go to http://www.neimagazine.com/trainingawards
Sponsorship packages are available. For information, contact Glen Savage, tel +44 (0)208 269 7705
