In 2013, when the Belene Nuclear power plant (NPP) should start working, it would need a trained staff of 529, Yordan Georgiev, manager of Belene NPP said at a conference titled Human Resources for Nuclear Energy Branch on November 5.

While the technical details of the project still have to be decided, training should start in 2008 as training staff for nuclear facilities takes four to five years according to industry norms, Bulgarian News Agency (BTA) quoted the chairperson of the Bulgarian Atomic Forum Bogomil Manchev as saying.

Belene NPP was important at an economical, ecological and social level, Economy and Energy Minister Petar Dimitrov said. The ministry would do all in its power to facilitate the training of specialists for the plant, he added.

Aleksandur Trufanov from the training centre Atomtechnoenergo in Russia said that as the executor of the project, Atomstroieksport had the obligation to train staff and was committed to doing this according to international standards. Around 60 people would be directly involved in training staff, and their training would be paid special attention to, Trufanov said.

Before 2014, people would have to be trained for 271 different functions, meaning that 271 training programmes had to be developed, he said.

Deputy Education and Science Minister Vanya Dobreva said that full training of a student through qualification courses and work experience would take 10 to 15 years. Who would commit so much time to education, if a job was not secured, Dobreva asked. The ministry had budgeted 20 per cent additional places in the training, but these places were not filled, she said.

There were not enough motivated young people who would want to start a career in nuclear physics, and this could only be solved is additional stimuli would be provided, like stipends and a secured job at the end of the education, Dobreva said.

Dimitrov demanded a concrete plan within two months from Atomstroieksport and the universities, on how current and future specialists would be educated.