The lifelong learning in the field of nuclear engineering has a rich tradition at the Institute of Nuclear and Physical Engineering of the Slovak University of Technology in Bratislava. The first postgraduate courses "Operation of Nuclear Power Plants" were organized from 1965 to 1987. Since 1997, the new revised double semester postgraduate program "Safety aspects of the operation of nuclear facilities" has been conducted. The lifelong learning program is organized for employees working in the nuclear industry in Slovakia and in Czech Republic. The program creates preconditions to obtain and broaden professional skills and specialized knowledge of safety systems, accidents and failures, reliability, legislation, management of severe accidents, human factors, safety of technological and electrical parts of NPPs, chemical and material aspects, RAW disposal and spent nuclear fuel issues, operation of nuclear power plants, radiation protection and environmental aspects. Lectures are provided by well recognized university staff as well as by experts from industry. The first semester consists of two 90h weekly camps. To support the theoretical lectures, technical tour around selected nuclear facilities in Switzerland is organized. Normally, visited laboratories include the research center NAGRA - Grimsel Test Site and Mont Terri Underground Rock Laboratory, nuclear power plants Beznau and Leibstadt, ZWILAG - Würenlingen (Interim Storage of SF and RAW Processing) and ENSI Brugg (Swiss Nuclear Regulatory Authority).
The second semester is organized in the form of two five-day camps of 45 and 46 hours, respectively. The final exams of the first and the second semesters are usually held on the tenth day after the end of the lectures. During the second semester, students are obliged to prepare a final thesis of up to 40 pages. The written final theses are evaluated by the specially selected reviewers. The program is completed by the final defense of the final thesis in front of a committee of lecturers. The successful graduates of the postgraduate lifelong learning program are awarded a certificate, proving their increased qualification. In total, the lifelong learning program of Safety aspects of the operation of nuclear facilities performed in 16 courses has been successfully completed by 307 employees of the nuclear industry. Currently, 11 trainees from Slovakia are attending the 17th course. Due to pandemic situation, the course is organized in the hybrid form (presence and online) for the first time in its history.