Tokyo high school students visit NEA headquarters
As part of the OECD Nuclear Energy Agency’s engagement with the next generation of nuclear energy scholarship, Director General William Magwood IV and Deputy Director General Nobuhiro Muroya hosted students earlier this year from Tokyo Metropolitan Toyama High School.
During the visit to NEA headquarters in Paris, France, the students discussed research topics, areas of interest, and other aspects of nuclear energy, including energy security, safety, and the environment. They also learned about the importance of nuclear applications in sectors beyond energy, such as medicine, where radioisotopes are being explored for novel cancer therapies, among other things.
Discussion: Magwood highlighted the need for young people to engage with the nuclear sector, both as stakeholders and as potential professionals. He noted that with nuclear energy expanding in many parts of the world, a growing number of professionals with diverse skills and backgrounds will be needed. The students learned of the agency’s commitment to gender balance in the sector, with prominent female scientists honored with commemorative plaques throughout the NEA offices.
The students also had the opportunity to meet NEA staff who are working on topics the students are studying, helping them understand the relevance of their studies and the career possibilities that will be available to them.
Programs: The NEA has a range of activities through which it engages with students and young professionals, including mentorships. It works with academic organizations and governments to help member countries develop the frameworks and policies needed to educate and train the nuclear sector’s future workforce. Among its programs are the Nuclear Education, Skills, and Technology (NEST) Framework and the Global Forum on Nuclear Education, Science, Technology, and Policy.
The students: The visit to the NEA headquarters was part of a larger tour for the students that included a site visit to a nuclear power plant and meetings with various stakeholders in the nuclear sector.
The students’ school has a “Super Science High School” designation from Japan’s Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology. The designation comes from the school’s specialized science and mathematics coursework and advanced research activities.
About: The NEA is an intergovernmental agency that facilitates cooperation among countries with advanced nuclear technology infrastructures to seek excellence in nuclear safety, technology, science, environment, and law.
Its objective is to assist its member countries in maintaining and further developing, through international agreement, the scientific, technological and legal bases required for a safe, environmentally sound, and economical use of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes.
The NEA provides authoritative assessments and forges common understandings on key issues as input to government decisions on nuclear energy policy and to broader OECD analyses in areas such as energy and the sustainable development of low-carbon economies.
