Nuclear Knowledge Management Handbook CD

The primary purpose of the Nuclear Knowledge Management Handbook is to support teaching nuclear knowledge management at academic institutions and in technical assistance programmes of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and of other related organizations – both international and national. This handbook has been designed and developed to complement other IAEA technical standards and guidance documents. Those documents represent essential resources for nuclear facility personnel and regulatory officials in the day-to-day conduct of business. They reflect the Agency’s long-standing and wide-ranging process of developing expert consensus on how to best handle technical and management issues in the operation and regulation of a broad spectrum of nuclear-related activities. Therefore, they provide an indispensable basis for this handbook.

This CD has been prepared in Adobe Acrobat PDF format. However, the files on the CD can also be viewed directly (without the use of Internet Explorer) by double clicking on the concerned files with ".pdf" extension which can be found at the location "/pdfs/" on this CD.

Nuclear Knowledge Management and IAEA

The principal reasons for managing nuclear knowledge are to preserve and to enhance the scientific, technical, and legal knowledge, competence and skills required for the efficient application of nuclear technology in furthering socio-economic development and world peace. More specifically, the management of nuclear knowledge should help to ensure:

• continued availability of key scientific, technical, and legal information relevant to the use of nuclear energy;
• enhanced information transformed into value-added knowledge from experience, insight and judgment;
• continued availability of adequate numbers of qualified personnel who are able to benefit from, and further enhance, the accumulated nuclear knowledge base; and,
• knowledgeable and enlightened leadership of organizations worldwide that are engaged in the peaceful application of nuclear science and technology.

Since its inception, the IAEA has been a knowledge-based organization, helping its Member States to benefit from peaceful uses of nuclear science and technology. Among other things, the Agency accomplishes this goal by facilitating access to nuclear information and knowledge and by helping to develop and sustain nuclear safety, competence and capacity in Member States.

In recent years, new issues have emerged in Member States in which the proper management of nuclear-related knowledge can make an important contribution. Those issues include ageing facilities and workforces; nuclear phase-out policies; the expectation of nuclear growth in some regions; the objective to further improve the economic competitiveness of nuclear energy; and, the shrinkage of government support for the nuclear sector in some Member States.

The IAEA Secretariat has identified the following four major challenges in responding to the needs of Member States in the context of managing nuclear knowledge:

• the Agency should enlarge its capability by developing methodologies, guides and tools, including networks and model projects, to assist Member States in building their own NKM systems;
• the Agency should remain an authoritative, independent and reliable source of quality nuclear information, knowledge and expertise;
• the Agency should help Member States to establish policies and strategies to preserve and further enhance knowledge, competence and expertise; and,
• the Agency should act as a catalyst for innovative efforts of Member States and assist in the resolution of future scientific and technological issues in all nuclear fields.

During recent years, activities of the IAEA have raised the attention given to nuclear knowledge management by the Member States, thereby helping to enhance the competence of personnel working in organizations involved in nuclear science and technology and increase the long-term sustainability of those organizations.

Current programmatic activities in nuclear knowledge management have been initiated in order to further increase the level of attention and awareness given to activities for preserving and enhancing nuclear knowledge; assisting Member States to ensure the preservation of nuclear experience and competence needed for the effective and safe use of nuclear energy; promoting networking between institutions devoted to nuclear education and training; evaluating the relevance of current programmes and activities regarding nuclear knowledge; and, identifying approaches aimed at how best to address any problems that arise.

In order to better help Member States with their managing nuclear knowledge, the Agency has developed a strategy for future programmatic activities that is comprised of the following elements:

• providing guidance for policy formulation and implementation of nuclear knowledge management;
• strengthening the contribution of nuclear knowledge to the solution of development problems, based on the needs and priorities of Member States;
• pooling, analysing and sharing information to facilitate the creation and utilization of nuclear-related knowledge;
• implementing effective knowledge management systems;
• preserving and maintaining nuclear knowledge;
• securing sustainable human resources for the nuclear sector; and,
• enhancing education and training in nuclear science and technology.

This CD was developed by the Nuclear Knowledge Management Unit (A. Kosilov, T. Karseka) of the NE INIS & NKM Section of the IAEA Department of Nuclear Energy.
For further information please contact:

Mr. Y. Yanev Head, Nuclear Knowledge Management Unit INIS/NKM Section Department of Nuclear Energy International Atomic Energy Agency E-mail: y.yanev@iaea.org Tel: +431 2600 22887 Fax: 431 2600 29598

Mr. A. Kosilov Nuclear Knowledge Management Unit INIS/NKM Section Department of Nuclear Energy International Atomic Energy Agency E-mail: a.kossilov@iaea.org Tel: +431 2600 22811 Fax: 431 2600 29598