The goal of the World Nuclear University is to contribute to:

• The advancement of nuclear science and technology worldwide; and

• The education and training of an expanding, globally distributed workforce that is professionally equipped to apply this valuable resource toward the achievement of sustainable development in the 21^st century.

The WNU will pursue this goal by:

• Expanding cooperation among the world's leading institutions of nuclear education and research, directed at:

• Efficiency in the use of institutional resources;
  
  
• Preservation and management of nuclear knowledge;
  
  
• Strengthened course content in nuclear education and training;
  
  
• Expanded student exchanges;
  
  

• Harmonisation of global standards and credentials;

• Establishing cooperative links between the network of participating institutions of nuclear learning and the intergovernmental and industry organisations that provide a supporting framework for transnational nuclear commerce (IAEA, NEA, WANO, WNA); and

• Converting this transnational cooperation and unity of purpose into:

• Heightened prestige and student interest in the nuclear professions; and
  
  
• Increased resource support, especially for nuclear scholarships.

WNU activities will be coordinated from a London headquarters staffed by a small cadre of highly experienced nuclear professionals. From this hub, the WNU will operate as a network, fostering practical cooperation while developing new courses aimed at an increasingly "globalised" system of nuclear education and training.

This "Core Faculty" will provide both secretariat services and substantive leadership in animating the WNU's cooperative network and contributing to improved course content at institutions that seek it.

Upon inauguration, the WNU will constitute no more than a framework offering cooperative opportunity for constructive interaction among all of the world institutions - academic, inter-governmental and commercial - that hold an interest in the advancement of nuclear education and training.

Because no such organised opportunity now exists at the global level, the act of assembling the WNU partnership represents an important step. But it is only a first step:

Realising the WNU's potential will depend crucially on future investments of personal institutional commitment - and resources - by the participants, the Founding Supporters and the companies and governments they represent.

In this worldwide collaboration, institutions engaged in networks of regional cooperation - notably ENEN in Europe and ANENT in Asia - can provide leadership and convey valuable lessons born of experience. Much practical work - in the sharing of facilities and the exchange of faculty and students - can be accomplished within these regional associations.

The "value-added" by the broader WNU structure is the opportunity for:

• East-West and North-South collaboration; and

• Building the prestige and influence of a global entity that embodies an affirmative 21^st century vision for the role of nuclear technology and that constitutes a working partnership of key countries representing both the developed and developing worlds.

A concerted partnership that unites Europe and the Americas with countries as important and diverse as China, India, Japan and Korea offers tremendous potential to embody - and to promote in the public mind worldwide - the principle that nuclear professions will be indispensable to the attainment of global sustainable development in the 21^st century.

Formal Organisational Structure and Board of Directors

The WNU's essential work will be cooperative interaction among its participating institutions of nuclear learning. This interaction will occur under the auspices of the Academic Council, consisting of at least one representative from every country with participating institutions. Working Groups mandated by the Academic Council will be the principal engines of WNU activity.

To raise resources for WNU operations, to govern their disposition, and to provide overall strategic direction, the World Nuclear University has been formalised as a non-profit corporation.

The start-up entity is a U.S. nonprofit corporation, which has been registered in Washington, DC, and designed to afford favourable tax treatment to WNU donors. Worldwide affiliates or subsidiaries of this entity will be created elsewhere as necessary to ensure favourable tax treatment for donors everywhere.

In accordance with a broad-based consensus that emerged during the WNU's formation, the WNU's initial Chairman of the Board will be WANO Chairman-emeritus Zack Pate.

As soon as practicable, the WNU Board of Directors will be expanded:

• To enable resource contributors to oversee and guide WNU strategy and expenditure; and

• To provide a voice for the Academic Council and for the organisations that are the WNU's Founding Supporters (IAEA, NEA, WANO, WNA).

The first act of the current, limited Board was to appoint, as the WNU's Chancellor, IAEA Director General-emeritus Hans Blix. Chosen on the basis of his experience and stature, Dr Blix will serve as a distinguished WNU emissary and an authoritative spokesman on the value of nuclear science and technology.

To build institutional prestige for the WNU - and financial and political support - the Board of Directors will, with advice from the Academic Council, appoint a WNU Council of Advisers consisting of eminent persons in fields relating to energy and the environment.

The Academic Council

The WNU's Academic Council will be comprised of the Country Representatives of all countries with institutions that have formalised their wish to participate in the WNU network.

The Academic Council's primary role will be to establish and mandate the various WNU Working Groups.

Each Country Representative will serve as a spokesman and coordinator, acting as a conduit to help any participating institution in his country communicate with the WNU network.

As the WNU network was assembled, in a few cases the Founding Supporters selected the Country Representatives. In certain other cases, compromise or diversity within countries resulted in the designation of more than one Country Representative.

In due time, the participating institutions of each country should agree on a method for selecting their own Country Representative.

As a general rule, there should be only one Country Representative. In those cases where there are two or more, close cooperation between them will be essential.

The Academic Council will be the mechanism for assembling and channelling information through the WNU network. As a practical matter, the Academic Council's members are likely to divide their WNU-directed energies between:

• Coordinating, and communicating with, the institutions they represent; and

• Participating, as they may choose, in various WNU Working Groups.

The Central Role of Working Groups

The principal means of interaction among the participating institutions will be WNU Working Groups. Once mandated by the Academic Council, WNU Working Groups will generally be open to participation by all interested parties.

Where it advances the purposes of a Working Group, persons not directly associated with institutions in the WNU network may be invited to participate.

Taken together, the WNU Working Groups will address the full array of cooperative possibilities opened by the existence of a global network of institutions engaged in nuclear education and research.

Each WNU Working Group will be mandated and led so as to focus on a specific area offering cooperative potential.

The essence of the WNU's "agenda" or work-plan will be a composite of the mandates of its Working Groups. The WNU is a continuing exploration, and its Working Groups are the explorers.

The Core Faculty

The WNU's Core Faculty will serve as secretariat for:

• The Academic Council; and

• WNU Working Groups mandated by the Council.

As envisaged, the Core Faculty will consist of 8-12 highly experienced nuclear professionals reflecting a wide spectrum of capabilities and nationalities.

Success in the WNU enterprise will depend on the formation of a strong Core Faculty to act as an energising force and to provide organisational and intellectual leadership.

For purposes of administrative efficiency and substantive synergy, the Core Faculty will be co-located with the World Nuclear Association in London.

Because of resource constraints - and to provide institutional linkages that will facilitate the WNU's success - the Core Faculty will, to the extent possible, be constituted using fully-paid secondments from key nuclear organisations.

Operational funds to support the Core Faculty and overall WNU activities will be sought on an annual-contribution basis from nuclear companies - both vendors and utilities.

If the Core Faculty is successfully assembled through secondments - lifting the main salary burden from the WNU budget - an annual operating budget of no more than £1 million will support a robust programme of WNU activity.

This operational budget will be used for office space; administrative support; travel; and - mainly - for the conduct of activities emanating from the broad work agenda of the various WNU Working Groups.

Role of the Founding Supporters

The Founding Supporters will each have a place on the WNU's Board of Directors and on the Academic Council. The roles of the various Founding Supporters will vary:

(1) World Nuclear Association

WNA will be an "involved uncle" in working to facilitate the WNU's maturation into a successfully functioning network. This support - functional rather than financial - will include

• Arranging co-located WNA and WNU offices, and sharing administrative and logistical support (including IT systems), as well as conference and library facilities;

• Leading the effort to build the resource commitments necessary to assemble a strong Core Faculty with operational funding; and

• Developing effective linkages between industry and the WNU's educational network.

(2) WANO

Dedicated to building and maintaining the strongest possible global nuclear safety culture, WANO will engage on safety-related subjects with the WNU Core Faculty and, through it, with participating WNU institutions.

WANO's interest ranges from operational training to boardroom philosophy.

Its London Coordinating Centre will have easy access to the WNU's Core Faculty, and its access to all nuclear power plants worldwide can facilitate links with the WNU's worldwide educational network for cooperation on matters of safety-related ethics, technology and operational procedure.

(3) NEA

At the outset, the NEA's principal interest is to investigate ways that the International School of Nuclear Law in Montpellier, France - recently created at NEA initiative - can best support the WNU's purposes. This is a recommended topic for a WNU Working Group.

Beyond the realm of nuclear law, NEA's focus on international cooperation to advance nuclear technology offers major opportunity for wide NEA-WNU interaction through other WNU Working Groups.

(4) IAEA

No linkage is more important - or more natural - than that between the WNU and the IAEA. Each year, the IAEA's governmental members express strong consensus (more on this subject, perhaps, than on any other) in reaffirming their mandate to the Agency to support nuclear education and training.

The WNU offers an ideal means by which the Agency can act to fulfil this important part its mandate.

Agency support for the WNU would offer an immediate and substantial resource for the WNU in several ways:

• Programmatic support for development and certification of WNU course content;

• Provision of training material already prepared in the Agency;

• Transfer of experience gained in working with other educational networks;

• Participation on the technical level by providing expertise and training in such areas as technology innovation, safeguards, nuclear safety, sustainable energy development;

• Coordination and joint-hosting of technical meetings (e.g., at the International Centre for Theoretical Physics);

• Design and implementation of knowledge management activities;

• Funding - through the Agency's Technical Cooperation programme - for WNU fellows; and

• Provision of access to the International Nuclear Information System.

To facilitate such interaction, the IAEA may designate at least one senior person in each Agency department - Technical Cooperation, Nuclear Science and Applications, Nuclear Energy, Nuclear Safety, Safeguards, and External Relations - to help foster Agency support for the WNU network.

The assumption by IAEA personnel of key roles on WNU Working Groups will strengthen working links between the WNU network and the Agency.