An educational initiative between the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid and Spanish Young Generation in Nuclear (Jóvenes Nucleares): The Seminar of Nuclear Safety in Advanced Reactors

G. Jimenez*, M. Sanchez* and E. Minguez**
* Jóvenes Nucleares
** Universidad Politécnica de Madrid

Jóvenes Nucleares (Spanish Young Generation in Nuclear, or JJNN) is a non-profit making organisation and a member of the Spanish Nuclear Society (SNE). The Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (Technical University of Madrid, UPM) is one of the most prestigious technical universities in Spain and has a very strong nuclear engineering training and research curriculum.

At the end of 2009, JJNN and UPM started to plan the creation of a new, first-of-a-kind Seminar in Nuclear Safety, focusing on advanced reactors (Generation III, III+ and IV). The brief was to provide a general description of the new reactors’ safety levels, comparing them with existing Generation II reactors from a technical point of view. In addition, it was described in a simple way that does not require a strong background in nuclear engineering in order to be interesting to as many people as possible.

After much hard work from JJNN, with the support of UPM, the first of the seminars was delivered in April 2010, at the Industrial Engineering School (ETSII). The lectures were conducted by young professionals, experts in the field, belonging to the Young Generation of the Spanish Nuclear Society and by companies and institutions active in the field of nuclear energy.

The seminar revolved around four sessions. In each session a comparison was made between previous and new technologies in terms of safety. On the first day an introductory lecture on PWR safety was given, followed by another one on the safety of the AP1000 reactor. The objective was to show clearly the advances in safety systems that the new technologies represent. In the other sessions similar comparisons were made between the BWR - ABWR/ESBWR and PWR – EPR reactors, respectively.

For the Generation IV reactors there were a specific lecture, longer that the others, to cover all the specific characteristics of these new kind of reactors of tomorrow. A special lecture about the ADS (Accelerator Driven Systems) was given to emphasise the importance of this new development in nuclear energy sustainability.

The seminar was very popular, with nearly 70 assistants from the university, nuclear companies and research centers attending each day. After each session there were very interesting and animated discussions between the lecturers and participants, which demonstrated the interest that the assistants had in the subjects being taught.

Both the UPM and the SNE strongly supported the seminar. The opening session, for example, was chaired by the Vice Chairman of the UPM, Emilio Mínguez, who is also a professor of nuclear engineering. The closing session was chaired by the Pesident of the Spanish Nuclear Society, José Emeterio Gutiérrez. A really important fact is that in 2011 the seminar became, for the first time, an official subject taught on the UPM curriculum. It will help to develop the lecture programme and the didactic materials used.

The assistants were asked for very detailed feedback on each of the lectures. Once all the satisfaction surveys were processed and the comments classified, improvements were put in place for the 2011 edition of the seminar. They are as follows:

• The seminar lasted longer (15 h) and was given an ECTS valuation

• The structure was changed to provide a 1h lecture on the old reactor + a 1.5 h lecture on the new one

• There was one lecture on the PWR-W and another on the PWR-KWU

• There was one lecture on the ABWR and another on the ESBWR

• All documentation was distributed at the beginning of the seminar

• A lecture for Day One entitled: Introduction to Nuclear Safety was created

• A new lecture on High Temperature Reactors was also created

In 2011 the Seminar is thriving. Comments are invited and satisfaction surveys evaluated in order to improve the seminar every year.