National summary - Sweden

The Swedish nuclear power plants produce about 45% of the total electricity production in Sweden. Last year was an excellent year in terms of safety as well as average energy availability and production. In 1999 the Barsebaeck 1 power plant was finally shut down and closed. The present government in Sweden have decided that the second NPP, Barsebaeck 2, will be shut down before the end of 2003. Since January 1996 the electricity market in Sweden has been deregulated. The deregulation of the market and the large hydropower production has brought about a substantial economical pressure on the electricity generating companies in Sweden. The pressure on the NPPs has been apparent to all personnel. The hard pressure on economy has also affected training and qualification programs. Due to more limited financial resources, training programs have to be optimized and rationalized, more cost effective methods and tools must be developed. The NPPs at Ringhals and Forsmark have decided to out source their operational training activities to KSU, the Swedish Nuclear Training and Safety Company, jointly owned by all utilities in Sweden. For those two utilities KSU is responsible for all training of operation personnel including development and evaluation of training programs. Training centers have been built in close connection to the sites, local offices have been established. The Ringhals 3/4 simulator has been moved to Ringhals and is now in full operation. The Ringhals 1 simulator is about to be moved and will be in operation in August 2002. The Forsmark 1/2 simulator has been moved to Forsmark. The out sourcing of training activities is planned to be completed in a period of 4 to 6 years. The KSU head-office at Studsvik supports the local training offices at the plants in areas like software and hardware maintenance, training material development, pedagogic development and administration. Most personnel at the local offices are instructors. For example: of 29 persons who serve the four units at the Ringhals NPP 25 are instructors. Nuclear power is an advanced and in some areas specific technology. Designing, operating and, in the future, decommissioning NPPs requires highly educated personnel. Since nuclear power in Sweden is a questioned technology, it has become more and more difficult to attract young people to study nuclear technologies. To meet the need for new qualified personnel and to spread new knowledge gained through research and practical experience the Swedish utilities, in cooperation with the Swedish Inspectorate, SKI and three universities, have formed a new common organization. The organization is commissioned to support research programs as well as education of young students and NPP personnel in the nuclear field. The Swedish Inspectorate, SKI, has issued new guidelines applicable to the training ana the competence of NPP personnel. The guidelines reinforce the need for stricter systems for qualification of operation personnel. The former system, based on written and oral tests, has now been supplemented with tests in full-scope simulators. Selected tasks, mostly related to safety actions, are individually evaluated in parallel with training sessions. Operation management based on the instructors' observations effects the formal examination. In Sweden, activities related to training and qualification have focused on the implementation of SAT methodology and training programs for operators, especially the first steps analysis, design and implementation. Training programs for operation personnel have up to now been given priority. In the future more effort must be put into development of training programs for other categories, e.g. maintenance personnel. The variety of categories and the limited number of personnel in each category enforces the use of cost-effective techniques and development of new training methods. There is a need for further communication and cooperation between international organizations and associations within the nuclear field in order to strengthen the exchange of experience and avoid overlaps. In this respect the Agency can serve the important function of initiating and coordinating different international organizations and member states. The Pan European Nuclear Training Center Association, PENTRAC, is a good example of such an initiative