This workshop aimed to facilitate a broad discussion of the challenges around the competency of regulators in the areas of radioactive waste management, decommissioning and legacy management. In January 2019 the NEA issued the Results from the Radioactive Waste Management Committee (RWMC) Regulators' Forum (RF) Survey on Gaining and Maintaining Competencies for the Regulator. In the document, some conclusions were drawn regarding future challenges in competency management. Based on these conclusions, the RF decided to organise such a workshop in order to discuss how to prepare for future tasks and challenges in competency management and to ensure that regulatory bodies are necessarily fed, and fed by, the right skills and abilities for future work.

The workshop was initiated and led by the RF, and other interested NEA standing technical committees were invited to participate and contribute: the Committee on Radiation Protection and Public Health (CRPPH), the Committee on Nuclear Regulatory Activities (CNRA), the Committee on the Safety on Nuclear Installations (CSNI), and the Nuclear Science Committee (NSC). Also, the NEA invited international organisations, e.g. the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the European Commission (EC),  the Sustainable Network for Independent Technical Expertise on Radioactive Waste Management (SITEX), the Western European Nuclear Regulators Association (WENRA), the European Nuclear Safety Training and Tutoring Institute (ENSTTI) and others to participate.

1. Discussions on the core concepts of competency management and its implementation nationally and internationally, focused on the area of the safety of radioactive waste management and decommissioning activities.
2. Provision of further considerations for effective bilateral or multilateral exchanges on building competency, both for the regulatory organisation (how to distinguish, empower and implement competency and knowledge management, decision making, prioritisation and oversight) and for its employees (practical training, value-adding opportunities). 
3. Identification of the members’ needs in support of the development of national frameworks of regulators’ competency management and discussion of possible initiatives within the NEA (RF).
4. Collection of inputs for the production of a peer-reviewed, authoritative document (or compendium of such documents) on best practices in the regulatory environment and recommendations to members on the management of regulator’s competency.