The French Training Programme for nuclear safety engineers, specially designed to transfer know-how to developing countries

Agreements between the French Government and the developing countries entail a general commitment to transfer know-how. The need for nuclear safety training is often expressed. In addition, the expansion of the French nuclear programme has led to an increase in the staff of the national safety organizations. To meet these needs, the Nuclear Protection and Safety Institute (IPSN) has set up an original training programme which is open both to its own staff and to foreign participants. The programme is spread over a year and consists of an intensive study session of five weeks, a series of training programmes in the various departments of the Institute, and seminars at the end of the training period for all the trainees. At the end of the programme, each trainee presents to an examining panel the work he or she has performed in the last two or three training periods, which will normally relate to one specific area. The aims of the training programme are to give participants an overall view of safety problems with the accent on a particular type of nuclear facility, to enable participants to study in depth either the general practices or specific aspects of safety analysis, and particularly to become specialized in one aspect thereof, and to allow foreign participants access to the working methods used in France. The first training programme allowed us to examine how it operated. Lessons were drawn following an in-depth evaluation of the initial activities. A number of improvements were included in the second training programme. (author)