Current Status and Future Issues of Education and Training of Operators for Nuclear Power Plants

Abstract

　This article describes current status and some future issues in education and training of operators for nuclear power plants. Based on the lessons learned from the accidents at Fukushima-Daiichi nuclear station, the regulation for Japanese nuclear power plants has been tightened. Following the tightening of regulation, the education and training of operators has been improved to take suitable counter operations in a design extension event as well as supposed abnormal plant situations. First, this article describes the outline of the new regulatory standards. Then, some examples of the education and training of operators, mainly the education and training menus at BWR Operation Training Center Corporation, are introduced. Some new activities at Japan Nuclear Safety Institute after the accidents are also introduced. A training menu to improve non-technical skills is described as a new trend of education and training of operators. This article concludes to point out some issues to be considered to make the education and training of operators more effective.