Networking to bridge organizational, geographical and cultural barriers

The worldwide expansion of nuclear power generation currently under way is placing a great deal of pressure on current resources for both the industry and regulators. This challenge is made more acute by the fact that there has been no preparation of a skills pipeline. Many countries are only now starting to respond. For the regulator, the effect is felt that much more. There is increased staff mobility owing to increasing competition for the same skills with the private sector, leading to erosion of the institutional memory built up over time. Sharing of technical and safety information through cooperation and networking with international counterparts is becoming essential to the success of regulators. Further, the role of technical and scientific support organizations (TSOs) is also becoming increasingly critical. Clearly, this has its own challenges. The paper explores some of these challenges and describes the experience in South Africa. (author)