The appropriate training of the people who manage and operate nuclear facilities is considered a fundamental element for achieving the safe functioning of these facilities, ensuring the protection of the workers in the facilities themselves and of the public.

To ensure that the degree of training required is acceptable, Spanish legislation requires persons whose activity could affect the safety or radiation protection of facilities to have a licence issued by the Spanish Nuclear Safety Council (CSN). For this, they must demonstrate sufficient knowledge of these matters as well as of the functioning, standards and procedures for action, existing risks and protective measures in the specific facilities in which they will carry out their activity.

Once the licence has been obtained, operators and supervisors are subjected to programmes supervised by the CSN to continuously update their training. They must renew their licence every six years, proving to the Council their knowledge, health status and their interventions in the operation of the plant.

In nuclear power plants, operation is understood to mean any action that affects the reactivity, the reactor power level or the integrity of the barriers against the release of radioactive materials, as described in the operating procedures. A nuclear power plant must be operated from the control room by licenced personnel. Alterations to the core, including the loading and unloading of fuel and its transfer, also need supervision by a person with a specific licence for this activity, who must not be assigned other tasks simultaneously.

The radiation protection service in the facility, reporting directly to the plant's director, must have a Radiation Protection Service Manager with the appropriate diploma issued by the CSN.

The rest of the staff working in a power plant, whether in-house or subcontracted, must receive training in safety and radiation protection in accordance with their work post and the potential risks for the facilities’ safety that their occupation involves.

For further information on the licenses for workers in radioactive facilities, please visit the section Radiation protection > Diplomas, licences and accreditations.