The status of Nuclear Power Plant personnel training and qualification in Hungary, 2002

In recent years, Hungary has experienced a stable and smooth economic development. The country is prepared and looking forward to the accession to the EU, political stability characterizes public life and decreasing inflation unemployment rate are typical to the domestic market. In this context, the energy demand increases in a slow but steady rate. From the beginning of 2003, large customers will have been given the freedom to procure electric energy from the liberal world market. The life extension of NPPs lays significant emphasis on the thoughtful management of the human resources. Currently, the mean age of the plant personnel is 46 years and the age distribution reflects that the core of the plant staff is yet composed of professionals having worked for the plant since the very beginning. In 2000, the plant's Human Resources Division, for excellence in HRM, commenced the establishment of an integrated human resource management system for a new organizational structure. The management of the previously mentioned, already realized technical and human changes, as well as of the challenges of the future put the in-site training organization on the test. For this, a good basis is ensured by the training developments in the training infrastructure, methodology and staff, accomplished in the period between 1994-1998 - primarily in frame of the Hungarian Model Project. Today the Training Department, subordinated to the Human Resources Division, works with 70 persons out of which 25 instructors perform skills and technological training activities. The instructor staff partly imported from maintenance and operations areas and partly developed from young university graduates successfully managed with the training tasks associated with the grand plant reconstruction programs. The professional and age composition of the instructors allow for a smooth transition and transfer of knowledge and experience accumulated at the plant as well as for the apprehension of new information or technologies. The pedagogic preparation and continuing training of the instructors is provided in frame of a comprehensive program operated with university background in the past two years. Instructor competence must be evidenced by the regulatory license on the subject area acquired and renewed every three years. The infrastructure and the technical prerequisites of training are all available. The full-scope simulator, primarily owing to its role in the reactor protection system refurbishment (a development, testing and validation environment) got almost fully upgraded both on the hardware and the software side. As the last step of the multi-phase development process, the reconstruction of the instructor system commenced this year. The MTC has been operating for 5 years. The centre's collection of training tools and the circle of activities are under constant expansion. The building, originally designed for the training of mechanical maintenance staff, with its brand new training settings and instructor crew covers almost the full scope of the theoretical as well as the practical training of the technical staff. The real primary components, besides the training, play significant role in the search for solutions on technical issues, in the probation and testing of new state-of-the-art tools, technologies. In view of the development of the MTC services, a near term and indispensable undertaking is the establishment of the conditions for the electric and I and C maintenance training. The MTC is given an exclusive role to play in the public relation activities of the plant. Its technical capabilities, its infrastructure and highly competent staff permits to make advantage of the unbalanced training load, and act an provide services as a regional training and conference center for external customers