Three flights, five thousand miles and half a dozen clearances and permissions stood between Tetiana Maltseva and the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory. When she finally arrived at the lab to represent Ukraine at the 2024 Nuclear Energy Management School, her vision was clear.
“I am here for career development, to expand my knowledge and to get acquainted with other nuclear professionals,” said Maltseva, chief specialist in the Ukrainian Ministry of Energy’s Division of International Safety Regimes and Innovative Technologies Implementation.
Nuclear Energy Management School, or NEM, is an annual program hosted by ORNL to build managerial and technical capacity among the next generation of global nuclear leaders, all representing International Atomic Energy Agency, or IAEA, member countries. Along with DOE’s support, ORNL’s decades of leadership in nuclear energy research and science makes the national laboratory a well-suited place to develop the next generation of nuclear energy leaders.
“Hosting NEM is a testament to ORNL’s overarching mission to deploy clean energy solutions with global security at the front of mind,” said Andrew Worrall, the program’s host and director of Nuclear Energy Programs within ORNL’s Nuclear Energy and Fuel Cycle Division. “This program puts future nuclear energy leaders from around the world in the same room, learning together and sharing ideas for how to build affordable, sustainable, safe and secure nuclear energy systems.”
Maltseva and 28 other young professionals spent two weeks at ORNL gaining a broad international perspective from representatives and experts from across the lab, as well as those from the U.S. nuclear industry, government and the IAEA. The curriculum spanned topics including nuclear licensing and regulation, energy policy, safety culture, the nuclear fuel cycle, security and safeguards, and science applications using nuclear technology.
“The big advantage of NEM is the variety of backgrounds represented and topics covered,” Maltseva said. “You’re also talking with people who are the same age and how they have found success in their careers. [The curriculum] harmonizes the technical and policy aspects of nuclear energy, giving the opportunity to understand both sides of these issues.”
For another NEM student, Aleksandra Brzózka, the program’s comprehensive syllabus and diverse cohort provided her with a much-needed perspective on establishing nuclear energy in her home country of Poland. As a chief expert in the Nuclear Energy Department of the Polish Ministry of Industry, Brzózka and her team will be pivotal in supporting the country’s plans to bring her country’s first nuclear power plant by 2037.
“My experience was greatly benefitted from the experience and knowledge of lecturers from ORNL, industry and academia who were invited to speak,” Brzózka said. “The networking was a great way to share views and positions and to update my knowledge about nuclear power in other countries.”
In addition to hosting speakers and lectures, the school integrates classroom education with hands-on learning opportunities through a group project and several field trips throughout the two-week program. The group visited ORNL’s High Flux Isotope Reactor, the historic Graphite Reactor, the Manufacturing Demonstration Facility and some of the isotope production facilities. The group also visited the Tennessee Valley Authority’s Clinch River Site, a potential host site for a future small modular reactor.
These visits were pivotal for Elisa De Siati, an Italian national who works for the OECD Nuclear Energy Agency located in France. Attending NEM changed her perspective towards bringing advanced nuclear power online.
“For me, nuclear energy has always been abstract,” De Siati said. “It is highly technical but integrated into so many other fields, making it accessible to anyone who wants to be a future agent of change.”
She also noted how NEM emphasizes collaboration and connectivity among countries seeking to jumpstart or revive their nuclear energy programs.
“This community fosters a strong sense of belonging, where each member feels connected and integral to the collective mission of embracing a net-zero future,” De Siati said.
For Brzózka, the focus on collaboration was key to her understanding how developing a strong nuclear workforce is central to establishing Poland’s nuclear energy capacity.
“In Poland, we will need to focus on human resources development and ensuring that we maintain strong alliances with countries where nuclear power will play the role in energy transition.” Brzózka said. “We will need to exchange knowledge, experience and lessons learned how to implement nuclear power safely and securely.”
Some of this workforce development is already underway in Poland, where the country’s first Clean Energy Training Center opened earlier this year. This effort, supported by ORNL researchers, the U.S. Department of State and the Polish Ministry of Climate and Environment, will provide workforce development and training to expand new nuclear capacity in Central Europe.
The two-week NEM program culminates in a group project, where students work together to address issues related to energy planning and economics, safety culture and decision-making. During the last two days, each group presented their projects to the cohort.
“The project work challenges each of the groups to consider all of the various aspects that go into decision-making around nuclear energy, whether political, economic, social, technical, environmental or legal,” Worrall said. “The project aims to expand perspectives about how many elements there are, how different the priorities can be and why we all need to listen to all perspectives when making decisions around nuclear energy.”
As Maltseva returns home, she’s already thinking about how NEM’s emphasis on international collaboration and establishing a strong research capacity can support her in her role and ultimately promote Ukraine’s energy independence via nuclear power.
“It has been helpful to understand the importance of science and research and seeing how a country can invest and benefit in science,” Maltseva said. “In Ukraine, we’ve experienced how important it is to be independent from other countries in cultivating our own research facilities. At NEM, I’ve learned how much work there is to be done, and I’ve been motivated by hearing from the early career staff who are interested in nuclear.”
ORNL, IAEA and the Department of Energy sponsored the USA-IAEA Nuclear Energy Management School.
UT-Battelle manages ORNL for the Department of Energy’s Office of Science, the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States. The Office of Science is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, please visit energy.gov/science. — Liz McCrory
