Alma Mater Studiorum - Università degli Studi di Bologna Facoltà di Ingegneria

In the nuclear-related topics of interest to this workshop are within the scope of several scientific areas: 1) part of the medical profession is concerned with radioisotopes and with radiation (nuclear , radiation therapy, radiology). Within the general area of medicine we can also consider radiopharmacy and a significant overlap on health physics; 2) a second area includes the physicists and chemists; 3) then there is nuclear engineering, on which we shall dwell more later. Which of the workshop topics are of interest to which areas? Let us try a brief assessment of the Italian situation, and of the higher education tools available to each. 1) Area 1: easy to guess: Radiation and Radioisotope Applications to Medicine, plus of course as much Radiation measurement as connected with dosimetric aspects. Education is through the appropriate specialist medical schools (radiologist, radiotherapist), and through the school of (which includes a radiopharmacy curriculum). A separate mention deserves the specialization school in health physics, see next point. On a lesser level there are schools for radiology technicians (in Italian TSRM: tecnico specialista di radiologia medica) which are gaining new momentum on the aftermath of new legislation (viz., D.Lgs. 187/2001) introducing extremely more stringent regulations on quality control. This type of schools, again, is held in the area of medicine. The only exception known to the me is a Master curriculum offered by the Physics department of the University of , starting from this coming school year 2005/06. 2) Area 2: Italian physicists have scarce interest in radiation topics such as ours, being mostly interested in particle physics and the physics of matter. Of course Radiation measurement is done extensively in these frameworks. Also nuclear chemists (they are rather few however) do radiation measurements, particularly in connection with Environmental radioactivity. There seems to be little radiation protection taught within typical Physics curricula, and none in Chemistry. However, specialization schools in health Physics are held by the physicists: not only, but access is restricted to Physics graduates. Strictly. There is also work done in the area of imaging, and that would fall under the heading of Radiation Applications to Medicine. This carries with it a certain activity in Monte Carlo methods applied to radiation transport. There are Physics curricula with ample space for imaging topics in medical applications. Again, there is an exception: the Physics department of the University of offers a Master in Nuclear Technologies, centered on radiochemistry but with a significant outlook on Radiation protection. 3) Area 3, Nuclear Engineering: here we find the big share of nuclear technologies. Again, let me describe briefly the Italian situation before discussing my institution. In the past decades a Nuclear Engineering curriculum has been offered in 6 universities: Torino, , Bologna, Pisa, Rome and Palermo. Unfortunately it is no longer offered (we’ll return to this presently), nevertheless research groups and expertise have remained in all 6 of them. The following activities can be thought of as typical of all the groups: ♦ Radiation Measurements. ♦ Nuclear Safety ♦ Risk Analysis applied to Nuclear Engineering

Some of the workshop topics are more typical of some groups than of others, to wit: ♦ Reactor Physics: Neutronics, Nuclear Reactors. ♦ Monte Carlo methods applied to radiation transport. ♦ Radiation and Radioisotope Applications to Industry, Medicine and Research. All these activities take place also at Bologna

Finally, to my knowledge only the people in Bologna have an interest in the two topics ♦ Radiological Protection. ♦ Environmental Radioactivity. (some radiation protection in Palermo).

As far as education issues, the situation is much the same in all institutions, so I will elaborate only on the one in Bologna.

The Let me describe briefly my institution, to wit the College of Engineering of the University of Bologna, and its research and education programs in the nuclear area. Since the mid 60’s there existed in Bologna a Nuclear Engineering program, based on the traditional 5 year scheme typical of Italian engineering. However, with the beginning of the present decade there has taken place a sweeping reform of the University curricula in general, including those of engineering. This new system is based on a 3-year degree called Laurea, which here we will translate loosely as a bachelor’s degree, BS. Those who wish to pursue their education further can then access a 2-year curriculum called (at least for the time being: more novelties are afoot) Laurea Specialistica, loosely corresponding to a Master: MS. It should be stressed at this point that what is called a Master program in Italy, however, is NOT what is commonly meant in European programs, but rather a 1-year program designed to give a very deep education in a very specific and generally narrow subject, with the obvious intent to create a marketable expertise in that subject. Coming to our situation, with the school year 2001/02 we have started on the new course, closing down a year after another of the old nuclear curriculum and opening up one year after the other of a curriculum in Energy Engineering that follows the new criteria. To this time, the first 4 years of the new regime are operational (the entire BS program and the first year of the MS curriculum), whereas only the fifth year of the old Nuclear Engineering curriculum still survive, to be terminated finally with the end of the present school year 2004/2005. The new program makes room for many new subject, at the expense of the traditional nuclear topics. In the BS program only 3 classes of nuclear extraction are present, for a total of 180 hours of lectures: an intro to nuclear energy, a safety and risk analysis class and a course in radiation protection. Those who go on for the MS, on the other hand, will find that approximately half of the classes will be in nuclear subjects: radiation transport, radiation protection, neutronics, plasmas, to name a few. So, at least part of the expertise is being passed on to the new generations: however we do not fool ourselves into believing that this new state of affairs is in any way offering the same nuclear training as the in the old regime. Still, an effort is being made to give a thorough education in the radiation protection field, which we feel is generally underestimated and underprivileged in the Country’s education system. Albeit the nuclear program has been all but dismantled in the Country, we mentioned that there still remain sizeable faculty with ample and valuable expertise, who do pursue research at a high level. Speaking for Bologna, I might recall (quoting but the main lines): ™ Plasmas, and industrial applications of plasmas ™ Radiation protection ™ Radioisotope production ™ Reactor Physics ™ Monte Carlo transport (neutrons and photons) ™ Nuclear safety and decommissioning ™ Basic transport physics As stressed above, room for education in these topics in the new curricula is somewhat limited at the MS level and next to nil at the BS level: however, the faculty involved try their very best to awaken in the pupils the interest and, why not, the love for the subject. The success of their effort can be judged by the many students who request to write their thesis in nuclear topics.

Beyond the MS there are Ph.D. programs. We have in Bologna two Ph.D. programs containing nuclear engineering topics. To date, the quality of the Ph.D. recipients has been very good, sometimes excellent, and some graduates have gone on into the Academic career. However, they all came from the old nuclear program: it is impossible to judge at this time how the new graduates will fare (the first “new” graduate of the new MS will not finish until the summer of 2006), or even whether many, or few, or any, will show interest in the Ph.D. program.

Parallel to the MS program we offer a Master in radiation protection: again, this is a Master in the Italian sense – a program designed to build a sound expertise in a specific field in 1 year of intensive coursework. The Master has been thought and designed together with the Professional Society of Experts in Radiation Protection; the intent is to give the candidates all the scientific and professional tools to operate in this area, and all the knowledge to pass an extremely demanding exam which is required to be legally licensed as a radiation protectionist. The Master program was to begin in the current school year 2004/05, but did not, for lack of a sufficient number of candidates: it will be offered again in the coming year 2005/06. I attach a brief presentation of its structure and of the topics dealt with.

Evaluation of the status The Italian situation is all but satisfactory. All that is nuclear has become a no-no following an anti- nuke referendum in the late 80’s, in the aftermath of the Chernobyl accident. Let us not get here into an argument on the value of nuclear power; still there is more to nuclear technologies than power generation. And to begin with, there is the safe disposal of existing plants. Furthermore, applications of radiation are mushrooming, growing both in quality and quantity. Just to name a few: the ever growing needs of nuclear medicine (just think of PET: which self- respecting hospital today will want to do without one?), the vast world of industrial applications (from measuring the level in fruit juice bottle, to gauging the thickness of plastic foil etc.). And what about X-ray imaging? Add, to this wide array of radiation protection needs, that new legislation calls for protection from (certain) natural sources of radiation (Radon, TENORM, cosmic rays). Radiations are here to stay, and so are jobs for people trained in radiation protection. On the other side, the Italian education system lacks sensitivity to this issue, and there is very little that our University system does to educate and train specialists in the nuclear field, notwithstanding the effort and passion that the remaining “nuclear” faculty lavish on this task. The professionals in the field of radiation protection are essentially self-taught: typically they get interested in the field and after finishing engineering or physics, where classes on radiation topics are few and far between, they take up studying on their own, take the qualifying exam several times, until, by trial and error, they get to pass it and go on to start their activity in the real world. In this sense, the Energy Engineering program at the University of Bologna, with its stern effort to educate in radiation topics, is pioneering the field, and is, to date, the only University program to have chosen this object.

Things needed? Very briefly: • More room for, and attention to, nuclear topics (this is the where the not-too-distant future of Europe rests. Including Italy). • Of course, more resources: space for young faculty, funds for research, labs for students, and so forth. This is the obvious bottleneck: without resources the dedication of the present faculty is eventually bound for failure, no matter how passionate. • University education specifically aimed at preparing future radiation protection experts.

One of the benefits of this workshop is the opportunity to scout whether similar deficiencies are felt in other Countries. A network in radiation training might be a further, most welcome product of this meeting, and I can see at least two ways in which it might help: • refine methods and goals of teaching, through confrontation and “bouncing ideas” with a large “supercritical mass” and a much wider array of points of view; • give visibility: this might help in giving the right status to the problem of education in radiation.

1-year Master in Radiation protection engineering

Course Name Modules CreditsHours I-A Introduction to radioactivity, 3 6 48 + radiochemistry and radio biology 12 lab I-B Radiation interaction with matter 3 4 32 + and dosimetry 8 lab I-C Probability and statistics for 2 6 48 measurements, Quality Control and Safety assessment I-D Neutron interaction with matter 2 4 32 + and applied neutronics for plant 8 lab decommissioning I-E/II Radiation measurements and 2 4 20 + shielding design 12 lab II-A Legislation on radiation 3 6 36 + 12 lab II-B Radiation based techniques for 3 4 20 + heritage studies 20 lab II-C Radiation protection and the 2 6 48 + environment 12 lab II-D Radiological appliances and 3 4 24 + radiation risk 12 lab II-E Radiation protection with 3 4 24 + complex apparatus 12 lab Extracurricular activity (lectures, 5 seminars, visits, and so forth) Traineeship N.A. 12 332 Final exam N.A. 3 N.A. Total 19 + did. 68 332 + 96 lab. alt.