Knowledge Management
There is clear consensus that nuclear knowledge is a strategic asset, which needs to be preserved regardless of national policies related to the utilization of nuclear power. Nuclear Knowledge is needed for safe operation of nuclear facilities until they are closed down and further for their safe decommissioning and disposing of waste.
Alongside other developments, the changing nuclear workforce is raising issues of "knowledge management" underlying the safe and economic use of nuclear science and technology. In recent years, for one, the nuclear workforce has been aging, that is, more and more nuclear workers are approaching retirement age, without a corresponding influx of appropriately qualified younger personnel to replace them.
The complexity and magnitude of the problem needs a systematic approach to locate and represent the knowledge domains and to perform a critical evaluation of knowledge values.
In recognition of these and other trends, the IAEA executive bodies have called for measures to better identify the nature and scope of the problem, to understand what Member States are doing to address it, and to determine what co-operative international actions might be appropriate to enhance succession planning.
Knowledge and in particular nuclear safety knowledge is created and shared in the frame of the Agency's Nuclear Safety activities. The IAEA is pursuing a vigorous knowledge management programme to ensure that existing knowledge is fully utilized by the current generation of nuclear professionals and is effectively transferred to the work force of the future.
Focus is on knowledge generation, codification, mapping, retention and transfer. Central to the KM activities is the establishment of an environment conductive to sharing knowledge including tacit knowledge.
For further information please contact Luis Lederman.
