(GRS 188) Assessment of the Situation of Centres of Competence in the Fields of Nuclear Fission and Radiation Protection

An assessment of the present situation concerning centres of competence in the fields of Nuclear Fission and Radiation Protection has been carried out with the intention to draw strategic conclusions as regards further needs in these fields, based on the actual situation and perceived future developments. This study was initiated by the programme committee for the Euratom research and training programme in the field of Nuclear Energy (1998 – 2002).
To carry out this exercise, a Panel of four independent experts had been set up. The Panel had prepared a questionnaire comprising a comprehensive set of questions aiming at the acquisition of the information needed to carry out the assessment exercise. The questionnaire consisted in ten different form sheets and had been put on the Internet in order to ease the access and offer a comfortable way of filling in the form sheets.
Out of 420 organisations invited to participate in the exercise, 293 organisations from EU Member States, Central and Eastern European Accession Countries (CEEC) and from Norway and Switzerland, had responded and registered for participation. Finally, 218 organisations have participated in the exercise. In spite of all efforts undertaken, several known main European nuclear research actors from different European countries have not participated in the exercise.