RESEARCH AND EDUCATION: AN ESSENTIAL ELEMENT OF NATIONAL INFRASTRUCTURE FOR NUCLEAR SAFETY

Abstract

Slovenia is the smallest nuclear country in the world. It utilizes only one half of the electricity and benefits generated by the Krško nuclear power plant. At the same time, it is fully responsible for the safe operation of this nuclear power plant. At the core of the responsibilities of any nuclear country are the development, maintenance and improvements of the national infrastructure for nuclear safety. Long-term national research program and higher education are among the essential ingredients of the national infrastructure for nuclear safety. Excellence in the operation and maintenance of the nuclear power plant, along with the dwindling and unstable funding of research, might not be sufficient to strengthen the trust of the public in the nuclear safety. Lack of national research might therefore result in the degraded public trust in the safety of nuclear energy. Consolidation and further development of the critical national infrastructure for nuclear safety, including research and education, are therefore of our common and vital interest. It could become one of the focal points of the efforts to manage the climate change with the low carbon sources of the electricity. The burden and responsibility to provide sufficient fresh resources to this purpose remain in the hands of the national authorities, who already committed themselves to this through the ratification of the international conventions and treaties decades ago.