Knowledge about civilian nuclear technologies and applications, representing billions of dollars of investment, is at risk of being permanently lost, delegates to an International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) organized conference in Vienna starting on 18 June will be informed. The four-day conference seeks to raise awareness about the problem. The meeting is open to the press.

As well as technical information, so-called nuclear knowledge embraces the insights, capabilities and skills of people working in nuclear related activities.

After five decades of development nuclear knowledge has achieved a mature stage and made significant contributions to a wide variety of applications not only in nuclear power facilities but also in agriculture, industry and medicine.

However, while some parts of nuclear knowledge are being constantly developed and freely shared, others are stranded, restricted or not being used. There is often a lack of effective mechanisms to transfer the knowledge from one generation to the next.

Such issues make the management of nuclear knowledge a growing challenge for both IAEA Member States and the nuclear industry and an ageing nuclear workforce and declining student numbers in nuclear related fields compound the problem.

The IAEA General Conference in 2002 adopted a resolution, endorsed by subsequent annual meetings that emphasized the importance of nuclear knowledge management and the need to preserve it.

The conference is a response to the resolution and addresses decision-makers and professionals in the nuclear industry, and from regulatory organizations, governments and academia.

A policy forum on the first day will discuss the role of nuclear knowledge management in the nuclear field followed by four thematic sessions which examine its contribution:

• to core knowledge that must be in place to operate existing plants safely;
• to achieving gains in economic and operational performance to make nuclear competitive;
• to preserving existing knowledge and channelling it towards future innovations;
• to assuring smooth and effective transfer of knowledge of today′s generation to the next.

Related Resources: ? Conference Website