If Estonia decided to build its own nuclear power plant, it would probably be necessary to create a radiation safety agency, similar to that of nuclear countries. If, before the nuclear power plant actually comes into operation, twenty specialists could work in the office, then eventually the office should have about 60-80 experts on its payroll. For comparison, you can look at the neighbors to the north.
“To ensure nuclear safety, we have just over 100 people in the nuclear reactor regulation department and about 25 employees in the nuclear waste department. About 130-140 people in total,” said Tomi Routamo, deputy director of the Finnish Center for Nuclear Safety. radiation protection. .
The fact is that the first reactor is the most expensive for the country, both in terms of money and the need for experts. Even more complicated is the question of how many field specialists the nuclear power plant itself needs.
“In the preparatory phase the number of people is around 50-60 people, during construction it reaches a few hundred, between 200 and 300. In the handling phase it will probably be 400 or even more”, explained Siim Espenberg , project director. the Center for Applied Research in Social Sciences at the University of Tartu.
It is difficult to accurately predict the need for experts, because there is no nuclear country in the world with such a small population as Estonia. Therefore, there are few reactors of a reasonable size for Estonia in the world. If one or two classrooms full of nuclear energy experts could currently be had throughout Estonia, ten classrooms or even more of people with such wisdom would be needed to build a nuclear power plant.
There is also concern whether the employees of the supervisory board and the nuclear power plant are former neighbors. The Radiation Protection Authority must be impartial and demanding. This means that the community of experts cannot be very small. It is also very important that nuclear power plant employees have practical experience so that they can handle unexpected situations.
“It’s very important how they behave when something goes wrong,” Routamo said.
General knowledge of nuclear energy is already taught in Estonia both in Tallinn and Tartu.
“The university certainly has the expertise to teach these subjects at least at an introductory level. I myself have studied two nuclear energy subjects since 2008, one is an introduction to nuclear energy and the other is just nuclear energy, which was six credits,” said Alan Tkaczyk, associate professor of engineering at the University of Tartu.
But to go in depth and train specialists, real study programs would be needed instead of just a few subjects. This is exactly what was thought more than ten years ago.
“One semester was planned, more physical, including chemical and environmental aspects. The first semester was planned in Tartu, the second, which concerns this station and the thermal engineering part, was planned at the Technical University. The third was a specialization semester – if the student wanted an engineering side, he went “he went to Tallinn University of Technology and, if for science, to Tartu University. The fourth semester was originally planned to do an internship in some company,” Tkaczyk explained.
That time the plan failed. Whether this was due to the Fukushima accident in Japan and thus the decline of interest in society, or simply to the fact that the country did not have a clear plan for the development of nuclear energy, it is difficult to say for sure in retrospect. However, referring to previous plans, Tallinn University of Technology and Tartu University also now say that it is possible to create study programs in Estonia, but not only with Estonian people.
“Certainly we should bring people from abroad and my perception is that it makes sense to train some people abroad too. Such a curriculum, which lasts years, can be applied to train specialists of a certain level, but it is possible that some specialists, who are five or ten years old, it makes sense to train them abroad as well,” said the vice-rector of the University of Tartu Aune Valk.
These top scientists are very expensive, especially if you recruit people from the old European nuclear states, Western Europe or the Nordic countries.
“Here we would be talking about a salary of 150,000 euros per year. Furthermore, a specialist of this level expects investment funds, which include the development of laboratories, a research group, the hiring of doctoral students. These investments are certainly quite significant in itself,” said Hendrik Voll, vice-rector of Tallinn University of Technology.
It may take seven to 10 years for Estonian nuclear engineers to graduate from the new study programs, or even up to 15 years if they are expected to have practical experience with some employers. Universities do not want to undertake such expensive and time-consuming work until Estonia has firmly decided to build a nuclear power plant.
“(Otherwise) we could train very expensive experts for Western Europe, the Nordic countries or some Eastern European countries. But is this what we lose our talent for?” Voll said.
This does not mean that universities do not want to train experts in nuclear energy. Both researchers and vice-rectors of studies are of the same opinion that with the advent of the nuclear power plant in Estonia it is necessary to create its own school of nuclear engineers.
“Today I dare to say that we want to do it. One is certainly a question of reputation, the second is certainly a question of scientific interest, and the third is certainly that if this is a national decision, the University of Tartu, as a national university , is obliged to society and the state to contribute to it in the best possible way, if possible,” said Aune Valk.
Voll added that Estonia absolutely needs to solve the problem that electricity is two or more times more expensive than its northern neighbors. But scientists and universities cannot say whether a nuclear power plant is definitely the solution.
It is possible to find specialists who can build and maintain a safe nuclear power plant. Rather, the concern is its high initial cost. Whether to bear this cost and tie Estonia’s future to nuclear energy, society must decide together, and it is not reasonable to reconsider every ten years.
Source: “Current Camera. The Week”
2023-12-03 19:30:00
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