News
Major Meeting on Managing Nuclear Knowledge Opens in Tokyo
22 October 2007 - A five-day IAEA Asian Regional Workshop on Managing Nuclear Knowledge opened in Tokyo today. Hosted by the Tokyo Institute of Technology, it is the first IAEA activity on nuclear knowledge management that is held in Japan.
Mr. Shunsuke Kondo
Mr. Masuro Aizawa
Around 100 participants from the host country Japan, including representatives of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) and the Ministry of Education Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT), 14 IAEA Member States and two international organizations are participating in this event, which is opened by distinguished addresses of Mr. Masuo Aizawa, President of the Tokyo Institute of Technology, and Mr. Shunsuke Kondo, Chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission of Japan. Mr. Kondo is also delivering a lecture on "Knowledge Management Challenges to Assure Sustainable Development of Nuclear Energy Utilization" today.
International initiatives to effectively manage nuclear knowledge, policies and strategies to implement nuclear knowledge management, its role and contribution in increasing nuclear power generation and developing nuclear-related innovative technology, and Asian initiatives for education and training of the next generation of nuclear experts are the focus during technical presentation/discussion sessions and lectures by international experts.
Mr. Yanko Yanev, IAEA
"Nuclear knowledge is probably one of the most expensive and valuable intellectual assets of our civilization", says Mr. Yanko Yanev, Head of the IAEA Nuclear Knowledge Management Unit, whose lecture outlines the IAEA's numerous activities in the area of nuclear knowledge management. "It gives us the opportunity to understand the structure of our world and provides us with the universal source of energy, the energy of the stars. We are obliged to preserve and further develop it and provide next generations with our experience and wisdom," Mr. Yanev adds.
The meeting's five sessions include a Policy Forum and four sessions that cover critical areas of nuclear knowledge management, such as national planning, human resources, skills and competencies, industry and regulatory needs and the nuclear safety culture inherent to an effective management of nuclear knowledge. Country reports from the Russian Federation and representatives of the Asian region will focus on national activities in China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Pakistan, the Philippines and Sri Lanka.
A Student Forum, open to the public, is organized by young researchers, who will discuss how nuclear knowledge can be best acquired, respectively transferred to the next generation of nuclear experts. Education and training in nuclear knowledge management are also the topic of a teleconference organized jointly between the Tokyo Institute of Technology and Obninsk State University for Nuclear Power Engineering (OINPE).
With over 125 years of history and tradition, the Tokyo Institute of Technology is one of the world's leading science and technology universities known for its achievements and the high standards of education.
Programme of the Workshop
Contact: Ms. Keiko Hanamitsu, INIS & Nuclear Knowledge Management Section, IAEA