Alternative acronym for systematic approach to training – analysis, design, development, implementation and evaluation. Commonly used outside the nuclear industry.

Benchmarking is the setting of standards of achievement against which similar processes and activities must be measured or judged.

Bid invitation specification

A systematic and integrated approach that includes education and training, human resource development, knowledge management and knowledge networks to develop and continuously improve the governmental, organizational and individual competencies and capabilities necessary for achieving a safe, secure and sustainable Nuclear Power Programme.

Competence is the ability to put skills, knowledge and attitudes, into practice in order to perform activities or a job in an effective and efficient manner within an occupation or job position to identified standards. (Competency) may be developed through a combination of education, experience and training.

Construction is the process of manufacturing and assembling the components of a facility, the carrying out of civil works, the installation of components and equipment, and the performance of associated tests.

Construction management is the set up and implementation of a management system for the construction phase of a Nuclear Power Programme. The system identifies policies, standards and procedures for all individuals and organizations working on the applicable project.

Continual improvement refers to the process of continually identifying reasons for improvement and implementing changes to improve processes.

The causes of non-conformances must be determined and remedial actions taken to prevent their recurrence. Corrective actions for eliminating non-conformances must be determined and implemented. Preventive actions to eliminate the causes of potential non-conformances must also be determined and taken.

CPM calculates the longest path of planned activities from the beginning to the end of the project, incorporating the earliest and latest that each activity could start and finish without extending the project schedule.

An area of control or a sphere of knowledge. In the context of learning, a domain is a way to differentiate the individual types of learning (Cognitive, Affective and Psychomotor).

Export Credit Agency.

Energy Demand Analysis

Environmental Impact Assessment

A statement of intent, especially the expected outcome of a segment of training. Developed from individual or grouped knowledge skills and attitudes to describe the behaviour necessary for a trainee to fulfil or achieve the relevant terminal objectives.

A contract type under which the contractor designs the installation, procures the necessary materials and builds the project, either directly or by subcontracting part of the work. In some cases, the contractor carries the project risk for schedule as well as budget in return for a fixed price.

An assessment of the impact of the various nuclear technologies on the local environment.

Engineering Procurement Construction.

A series of activities used to measure the adequacy and effectiveness of a training session, course or programme.

An agency in a creditor country that provides insurance, guarantees, or loans for the export of goods and services. It is a private or quasi-governmental institution that acts as an intermediary between national governments and exporters to issue export financing. Financing can take the form of credits (financial support) or credit insurance and guarantees (pure cover) or both, depending on the mandate the ECA has been given by its government. ECAs can also offer credit or cover on their own account. This does not differ from normal banking activities. Some agencies are government-sponsored, others private, and others a bit of both.

Feasibility study - a justification document for the acquisition of a nuclear power plant to be integrated into the electrical power generation capacity of a state.

The Fundamental Safety Principles document incorporates the 10 principles of safety.

A Gantt chart is a type of bar chart, which illustrates a project schedule. It illustrates the beginning and end dates of the terminal elements and summary elements of a project. These elements comprise the work breakdown structure of the project. A Gantt chart also displays the dependency relationship between activities.

The approach by which the level of analysis, documentation and actions necessary to comply with a requirement are commensurate with the level of safety or risk involved.

Grading can be used in management systems so as to deploy appropriate resources according to the significance or complexity of each activity.

GS-R-3 is an IAEA safety guide containing the IAEA's requirements for management systems.

The safety guides provide detailed guidance on how to meet certain requirements and what sources are available to help meet those requirements.

A declaration a Member State voluntarily signs, in which they agree to adhere to use nuclear power in a peaceful manner. Through the statute, the IAEA seeks to accelerate and enlarge the contribution of atomic energy to peace, health and prosperity throughout the world.

Any unintended event, including operating errors, equipment failures, initiating events, accident precursors, near misses or other mishaps, or unauthorized act, malicious or non-malicious, the consequences or potential consequences of which are not negligible from the point of view of protection or safety.

Originating in and characteristic of a particular region or country; activities which are carried out by the workforce of a Member State.

An organization (or individual) that has the competence to specify the scope and standard of a required product or service and subsequently assess whether the supplied product or service meets the specified requirements.

For the purposes of radiation protection, radiation capable of producing ion pairs in biological material(s).

Can be divided into low linear energy transfer radiation and high linear energy transfer radiation (as a guide to its relative biological effectiveness), or into strongly penetrating radiation and weakly penetrating radiation (as an indication of its ability to penetrate shielding or the human body).

ISO 9001 is a standard for management systems which can be used by any organization.

The duties and tasks identified for, and performed by, an individual. A job can consist of many tasks.

A method used to produce a detailed list of duties and tasks required to complete a specific job.

A type of analysis that concentrates on the education, experience and competence required to perform a job to required standards, more suited to knowledge based work.

The integrated, systematic approach to identifying, managing and sharing an organization’s knowledge, and enabling persons to create new knowledge collectively and thereby help achieve the objectives of that organization.

Knowledge, skills and attitudes required to perform a particular job.

Management oversight refers to the oversight reviews and assessments of the performance of activities that managers carry out in their day-to-day line management activities.

A set of interrelated or interacting elements (system) for establishing policies and objectives and enabling the objectives to be achieved in an efficient and effective way.

The management system integrates all elements of an organization into one coherent system to enable all of the organization’s objectives to be achieved. These elements include the structure, resources and processes.

A State which demonstrates acceptance of the IAEA Statute and which is determined to be willing and able to carry out the obligations of membership by the General Conference of the Agency.

The conditions necessary to demonstrate that a phase in the implementation of a Nuclear Power Programme has been successfully completed. The ‘infrastructure milestone’ is therefore a description of a set of conditions, without specific time based implications.

A multi-contract approach sees the owner or an architect/engineer assume overall responsibility for detailed engineering and plant construction. The owner or architect/engineer issues and manages a large number of contracts.

National infrastructure includes organizational, regulatory, social, technological, economic, manpower, governmental, industrial, legal, educational and training infrastructure.

An infrastructure that provides governmental, legal, regulatory, managerial, technological, human and industrial support for the Nuclear Power Programme throughout its life cycle.

Nuclear Energy Programme Implementing Organization. An organization that will be formed by the Government to study and initially promote the development of the Nuclear Power Programme, producing a comprehensive study of the issues and conditions necessary for the successful implementation of nuclear power in the country.

A country considering embarking on a Nuclear Power Programme.

Non-conformances are products and processes that do not conform to the specified requirements and should therefore be identified, segregated, controlled, recorded and reported to an appropriate level of management within the organization.

An agreement between the IAEA and one or more Member States which contains an undertaking by one or more of those States not to use certain items in such a way as to further any military purpose and which gives the IAEA the right to observe compliance with such undertaking. Such an agreement may concern:

a) An IAEA project;
b) A bilateral or multilateral arrangement in the field of nuclear energy under which the IAEA    may be asked to administer safeguards; or
c) Any of a State’s nuclear activities unilaterally submitted to IAEA safeguards.

Nuclear steam supply system.

All the activities and projects aimed at developing nuclear power and activities entailing sustained attention to many interrelated activities over a long duration and involving a commitment of at least 100 years throughout the installation, planning, preparation, construction, operation, decommissioning and waste disposal management.

A Nuclear Power Programme will require the establishment of a sustainable national infrastructure that provides governmental, legal, regulatory, managerial, technological, human and industrial support for the programme, throughout its life cycle.

The achievement of proper operating conditions, prevention of accidents or mitigation of accident consequences, resulting in protection of workers, the public and the environment from undue radiation hazards.

The prevention and detection of, and response to, theft, sabotage, unauthorized access, illegal transfer or other malicious acts involving nuclear material, other radioactive substances or their associated facilities.

Nuclear steam supply system. The reactor and the reactor coolant pumps (and steam generators for a pressurized water reactor) and associated piping in a nuclear power plant used to generate the steam needed to drive the turbine generator unit.

An electricity buyer via a pre-negotiated offtake agreement. An offtake agreement is an agreement between a producer of a resource and a buyer of a resource to purchase/sell portions of the producer's future production. An offtake agreement is normally negotiated prior to the construction of a facility to secure a market for the future output of the facility.

Any organization or person applying for authorization or authorized and/or responsible for nuclear, radiation, radioactive waste or transport safety when undertaking activities or in relation to any facilities or sources of ionizing radiation. This includes, inter alia, private individuals, governmental bodies, consignors or carriers, licensees, hospitals, self-employed persons, etc.

Any organization or person applying for authorization or authorized and/or responsible for nuclear, radiation, radioactive waste or transport safety when undertaking activities or in relation to any facilities or sources of ionizing radiation. This includes inter alia, private individuals, governmental bodies, consignors or carriers, licensees, hospitals, self-employed persons, etc.

People employed in an organization or engaged in an organized undertaking.

• Site personnel
  All persons working in the site area of an authorized facility, either permanently or temporarily.
• Operating personnel
  Individual workers engaged in the operation of an authorized facility.

The period during which the specific conditions required are completed in order to reach a Milestone.

Document that provides the detailed analysis necessary for a government to make an informed decision to adopt nuclear power.

PDM is a method of constructing a project schedule network diagram using nodes (boxes) to represent activities and their dependencies, using connecting arrows.

A process can be defined as any activity or group of activities that takes an input, adds value to it, and provides an output.

The designated individual who has the authority and responsibility for each process is often referred to as the process owner.

PERT is a statistical tool designed to analyse and represent the tasks involved in a project. Commonly used in conjunction with CPM, PERT is able to incorporate uncertainty by scheduling a project when precise details and durations of all activities may not be known.

A temporary endeavor with a defined beginning and end (usually time-constrained, and often constrained by funding or deliverables) undertaken to meet unique goals and objectives, typically to bring about beneficial change or added value. The temporary nature of projects stands in contrast with business as usual (or operations), which are repetitive, permanent, or semi-permanent functional activities to produce products or services. In practice, the management of these two systems is often quite different, and as such requires the development of distinct technical skills and management strategies.

Managing a project in accordance with the agreed scope, schedule, cost and quality requirements. It is the application of knowledge, skills and techniques to execute projects effectively and efficiently. It’s a strategic competency for organizations, enabling them to tie project results to business goals — and thus, better compete in their markets.

Quality Assurance means the implementation of planned and systematic actions necessary to provide adequate confidence that an item, process, or service will satisfy given requirements for quality; for example, those specified in the licence.

Quality Control activities are intended to verify that products, structures, systems and components correspond to predetermined requirements.

When used in IAEA publications, the term radiation normally refers only to ionizing radiation (see definition). The IAEA has no statutory responsibilities in relation to non-ionizing radiation.

For legal and regulatory purposes, waste that contains, or is contaminated with, radionuclides at concentrations or activities greater than clearance levels as established by the regulatory body.

An authority or a system of authorities designated by the Government of a State as having legal authority for conducting the regulatory process, including issuing authorizations, and thereby regulating nuclear, radiation, radioactive waste and transport safety.

The safety requirement documents relate to the safety requirements which should be considered and used in designing, operating and commissioning nuclear facilities. The requirements are not mandatory, however, they are recommended.

An agreement between the IAEA and one or more Member States which contains an undertaking by one or more of those States not to use certain items in such a way as to further any military purpose and which gives the IAEA the right to observe compliance with such undertaking.

The achievement of proper operating conditions, prevention of accidents or mitigation of accident consequences, resulting in protection of workers, the public and the environment from undue radiation hazards.

The assembly of characteristics and attitudes in organizations and individuals which establishes that, as an overriding priority, protection and safety issues receive the attention warranted by their significance.

A multi attribute quantity expressing hazard, danger or chance of harmful or injurious consequences associated with actual or potential exposures. It relates to quantities such as the probability that specific deleterious consequences may arise and the magnitude and character of such consequences.

Systematic Approach to Training (SAT) is the IAEA recommended approach to competence management, which is generally accepted by all nuclear organizations. The SAT process identifies the knowledge, skills and attitudes necessary required to perform a particular job to a specified standard and enables the development of training programmes to support this requirement.

Strategic Environmental Assessment – assesses the consequences of the policies and programs created for a new nuclear power plant.

The prevention and detection of, and response to, theft, sabotage, unauthorized access, illegal transfer or other malicious acts involving nuclear material, other radioactive substances or their associated facilities.

The assembly of characteristics, attitudes and behaviour of individuals, organizations and institutions which serves as a means to support and enhance nuclear security.

Specific, Measureable, Attainable, Relevant and Targeted as applied to training objectives.

Subject matter expert

A split package contract means the technical responsibility is divided between a relatively small number of contractors, each building a large section of the plant (for example, the nuclear island or balance of plant).

A split-package contract means the technical responsibility is divided between a relatively small number of contractors, each building a large section of the plant (for example, the nuclear island or balance of plant).

Any actor-institution, group or individual with an interest in or a role to play in the societal decision making process.

Where a single contract covers the entire plant design and construction.

Systematic Approach to Training (SAT) is the IAEA recommended competence management approach, which is generally accepted by all nuclear organizations. The SAT process identifies the knowledge, skills and attitudes required to perform a particular job.

A measurable, well-defined unit of work with an identifiable beginning and end. A task can be split into sub-tasks.

Formal identification of the knowledge, skills and attitudes required to competently perform a task.

In the training context, a statement on the purpose or goal of a particular training session, course or programme. It describes the measurable performance a trainee should be able to demonstrate on completion of a training intervention.

Informal name for the Convention on Environmental Impact Assessment in a Transboundary Context.

A statement of the expected performance of a trainee, in terms of knowledge, skills and attitudes, on completion of a particular part of a training programme, to what standards and under what conditions.

Where a single contract covers most plant construction, but the owner/operator manages the civil and infrastructure works.

United Nations Economic Commission for Europe.

The vendor is the entity responsible for supplying all (or part) of the nuclear power plant, according to the contract specifications of the Member State. They are responsible for ensuring that adequate safety standards, consistent with international safety standards, are integrated into the design of the nuclear power plant.

World Association of Nuclear Operators.

All administrative and operational activities involved in the handling, pre-treatment, treatment, conditioning, transport, storage and disposal of radioactive waste.

WBS is a breakdown of a project into smaller components, based on specific project deliverables. It defines and groups projects, which helps organize and define the total work scope. It also helps to provide a necessary framework for cost estimation and control, and provides guidance for schedule development and control.

Workforce planning is the process of ensuring that the right people are in the right place and at the right time to accomplish the mission of the organization. It is fundamentally about addressing the gaps between the available workforce of today and the Human Resources needs of tomorrow.

The systematic identification and analysis of what an organization (and a country) is going to need in terms of the size, type and quality of workforce to achieve its objectives. It determines what mix of experience and competencies are expected to be needed, and identifies the steps that should be taken to get the right number of the right people in the right place at the right time.