Introducing DMaLSE, an EU-INSC (Instrument for International Nuclear Safety Cooperation) co-funded project to develop a science-based training programme for decommissioning project managers and experts.
DMaLSE – Decommissioning Management and Leadership for Safety Education was launched on 01 January 2023 and will be carried out for a period of 48 months in partnership with Université Côte d’Azur – Project Leader and Karlsruher Institut für Technologie.
DMaLSE aims at gaining a deep understanding of management and leadership for safety practices in the context of Nuclear Decommissioning Projects (NDPs) to further develop a science-based high-level training programme for project managers and actors involved in the decommissioning of nuclear power plants, particularly in countries eligible to its INSC instrument – the European Union’s (EU) foreign policy Instrument that contributes to the promotion of nuclear safety culture and radiation protection, the safe management of spent nuclear fuels and radioactive wastes and the application of effective and efficient safeguards of nuclear materials in non-EU countries.
The SKEMA team is composed of Professors Renata Kaminska, Yoann Guntzburger, Pierre A. Daniel and Karima Abidat ensures project management including dissemination and exploitation of results.
How will DMaLSE contribute to support the promotion of nuclear safety education for decommissioning in the INSC countries?
Currently, 56 nuclear facilities worldwide are in the phase of decommissioning, while more than 450, including Nuclear Power Plants (NPPs) and research reactors, are expected to phase out by 20401. Decommissioning projects are highly complex and dynamic, as they involve the coordination of numerous interdisciplinary actors over a very long period – typically 20-30 years – creating many safety challenges. Yet, most of the existing trainings focus solely on technical and technological dimensions, despite the acknowledgement of the importance of organisational dimensions for safety. Hence the need for further development of management and leadership for safety competencies. To address the growing challenge of dismantling nuclear installations, the European Union co-funds an innovative project, Decommissioning Management & Leadership for Safety Education – DMaLSE to develop a science-based training programme in Management and Leadership for Safety for future decommissioning projects in close cooperation with the key stakeholders of the nuclear industry.
One of the objectives is to produce a high-level science-based training programme. How will this be achieved?
DMaLSE aims at designing a syllabus and modules on management and leadership for safety in NDPs and providing a training programme: a MOOC, a two-week face-to-face session and four remote sessions to suit the specific needs of key personnel primarily in INSC countries.
To do so, the team and two postdoctoral fellows hired for this purpose engage in a 24-month field research to conduct several empirical studies in nuclear facilities in the phase of decommissioning, one in France, one in Germany, one in Spain and one in an INSC country.
The training curriculum is practice-oriented and prepared based on insights from the empirical studies as well as from an international workshop gathering renowned academics and nuclear experts. The training results in a certified University Diploma (Master’s-level) in the field of management and leadership for safety applied to decommissioning projects.
You will be conducting research in Safety Management, could you tell us more about how you will bring your specific expertise in the field?
In the DMaLSE project, I will draw upon the experience I gained during the implementation of the European Leadership for Safety project – ELSE. My focus was on raising awareness among nuclear industry managers regarding the pivotal role of organisational structure in ensuring safety within high-risk and high-reliability organisations in nuclear power plants. These organisations are characterised by rare but high-impact errors. Whilst ELSE focused on safety leadership in day-to-day operations, DMaLSE will centre on assisting managers in developing comprehensive safety-related competencies essential for successfully overseeing decommissioning projects for nuclear facilities.
These competencies encompass the ability to establish objectives and guidelines, orchestrate work, lead teams, and effectively manage knowledge and projects. This complex process spans several years and involves diverse stakeholders, both internal and external, such as project managers, regulatory bodies, contractors, employees, and local communities. Their cooperation spans various areas including engineering, safety, regulatory adherence, and waste management. Experience shows that a considerable portion of the challenges faced during nuclear decommissioning programmes are linked to managerial and organisational issues.
An organisation serves as a mechanism for individuals to coordinate efforts towards specific objectives, which are sometimes difficult to reconcile. An organisation has two fundamental components: structure and culture. Structure represents the way an organisation allocates tasks and coordinates them. Culture encompasses shared values and norms guiding interactions among organisational members. In high-risk and high-reliability organisations, coordination is primarily facilitated through rules, integral to the organisational structure. These rules and routines integrate disparate organisational units into a cohesive entity by translating values and norms into the actions of its members.
Selecting an appropriate structure and corresponding rules is a significant challenge. It entails reconciling various tensions, such as control versus autonomy, stability versus change, and specialisation versus integration. For instance, rigid organisational rules and siloed structures may hinder coordination between individuals and teams, leading to delays, inefficiencies, and challenges in decommissioning project management.
Yoann Guntzburger. Nuclear decommissioning projects are characterised by high levels of complexity and uncertainty, which involve numerous ethical challenges in terms of safety and risk management, as well as social and environmental impacts.
Ensuring the safety and well-being of workers and surrounding communities, while maintaining efficient management of these projects, which require the involvement of many actors who do not all necessarily share the same safety culture, is a crucial challenge. Proper dialogue and transparency are vital in engaging stakeholders throughout the process. Ethically engaging residents, environmental groups, and other relevant parties is crucial to address and integrate their concerns, gather valuable insights, and build trust.
Also, the question of justice is central to these projects, especially for – but not limited to – the storage and disposal of radioactive waste, which will impact local communities at times, and for generations to come. Effective and ethical waste management, remediation, and monitoring must be priorities to safeguard the environment and future generations. Stakeholders must be engaged to contribute to sustainable solutions and hold accountable those responsible for any adverse effects. As well, the decommissioning process often impacts local economies, leading to potential job losses or changes in community dynamics. Ethical considerations include supporting affected workers, promoting a just transition to new industries, and investing in local development projects to mitigate negative consequences.
Finally, sustainability and circular principles are extremely relevant to integrate the decommissioning phase into the design of new nuclear facilities. This aspect is gaining increasing interest in both the academic and the practitioner communities, but clear guidelines are still lacking.
Pierre A. Daniel. The decommissioning of nuclear facilities places great emphasis on waste management. Waste management is a key issue in terms of health safety and environmental protection for our society and economy. Megaproject management and programme management are two areas of project studies which are particularly interested in considering the multiple benefits and impacts to which projects must contribute, over and above the usual criteria of meeting deadlines and costs.
Furthermore, nuclear decommissioning projects are complex organisational activities, both because the many stakeholders involved may have antagonistic interests, and because the conditions governing these complex projects change over time. The management of complex projects is a rapidly developing field, both academically and professionally within project studies. It involves managing projects as complex organisational systems, constantly adapting to both technical and social uncertainties. A better understanding of the management of these complex projects will have a considerable impact on the human capacity to better manage the major challenges facing our society, which is undergoing profound change.
How is DMaLSE communicated and disseminated to the different stakeholders and target groups?
Karima Abidat. A communication and dissemination strategy plan throughout the duration of the project and beyond was drawn up to set out the goals, increase visibility, and ensure it reaches a wide audience through a variety of key actions and activities: publication of articles in academic and professional journals, attendance to academic and professional conferences, workshops and international events, organisation of thematic workshops and hosting training events, liaison with other initiatives within ongoing and future EU projects in the framework of INSC, especially T&T, EURATOM, Horizon Europe, etc., cooperation with the European Nuclear Education Network (ENEN), World Nuclear University (WNU), etc., and an increased collaboration with the IAEA training programmes and the OECD Nuclear Energy Agency.
Particularly, DMaLSE aims at 1) reaching out to the relevant stakeholders in the nuclear industry – operators and regulators, professionals, and governmental agencies that cover nuclear decommissioning, to assess, evaluate and communicate information, consult experts to build expertise, receive input for decision making; 2) engaging with the academic and scientific community to communicate and disseminate the project findings; 3) reach out to candidates, primarily early and mid-career managers, experts and technical staff involved in the management of decommissioning projects in INSC countries to enrol in the MOOC and the trainings.
To do so, a Steering Committee is being formed to give directional strategic advice, ensure excellence for the scientific and pedagogical based approach, broaden the scope for future academic and professional partnerships in the field of leadership for safety, as well as engage with key stakeholders and target groups. Chaired by Jacques Repussard, a Nuclear Safety Expert and former Director of the Institute for Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety, the Committee will also serve as a Scientific Advisory Board to review the quality and relevance of the trainings provided and assess the management of the certified trainings as well as provide valuable advice and recommendations to the represented stakeholders and others to help with the user experience, content, and exploitation.
What will be the Impact for the academic community and society at large?
The overall stake of the DMaLSE project is twofold to achieve maximum impact for the academic community including professors and graduates, the nuclear industry, international organisations and society:
The first and most important is to build capacities through an innovative science-based training programme for a successful management and leadership for safety in Nuclear Decommissioning Projects primarily in INSC countries, by cooperating with key stakeholders in the nuclear industry (regulators and operators), with the European Union and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). A variety of means of dissemination and materials will be issued during the action to improve operational efficiency: Master-level training, on-site training, a specific module for a university programme and an open access MOOC for teaching and learning.
The second is to exchange information and knowledge through the development of an international academic & professional network and via the organisation of international workshops on Safety Management. The purpose is to act as a facilitator to translate the latest research results and findings in the field into practice and yet strengthening capabilities by learning from the various actors. Participants will share experiences and practice approaches and thus will be used to feed the trainings and develop further the state-of-the-art knowledge, skills, and competences across various stakeholders’ groups, and promote the trainings to attract participants: project managers, experts and technical staff and eventually graduates reading Management and Nuclear Safety.
What is DMaLSE?
DMaLSE – Decommissioning Management and Leadership for safety Education is a 48-month project co-funded by the EU Instrument for International Nuclear Safety Cooperation (EU-INSC) Annual Action Programme (AAP) 2022 with a budget of 2 million EUR.
DMaLSE aims to gain a deep understanding of management and leadership for safety practices in the context of nuclear decommissioning projects (specifically: identifying actors and stakeholders as well as their interrelations; studying decommissioning projects organisation as well as their rules, practices and related barriers) to be able to provide a high-level science-based training programme for decommissioning project managers, particularly in countries eligible to its INSC instrument. This training will provide the nuclear industry actors and regulating institutions with a recognised Master’s-level university diploma in the field of management and leadership for safety applied to decommissioning projects as well as a Bachelor´s level on-site training for operators involved in decommissioning projects. It kicked off on 01 January 2023.
Who is part of the DMaLSE project?
The Consortium is led by the University Côte d’Azur and includes:
- UCA – University Côte d’Azur working with J Repussard Conseil (JRC) Key Contractor
- SKEMA – SKEMA Business School
- KIT – Karlsruher Institut für Technologie
