The jubilee 30th NENE2021 conference, organized by the Nuclear Society of Slovenia in association with the Jožef Stefan Institute, Reactor Engineering Division, was held in the beautiful alpine resort of Bled during September 6 - 9, 2021. Record 236 participants from 22 countries attended the conference. Varied conference program was accompanied by the ENEN & OECD-NEA Workshop regarding nuclear education and training and the ENEN Ph.D. Event competition.

The conference of the Nuclear Society of Slovenia is an international annual meeting of professionals dealing with different aspects of nuclear energy from all around Europe and worldwide. Due to the situation, this year’s NENE conference was also held in a hybrid manner. However, as one of the few conferences with possibility to attend it in-person, the interest amongst professionals active in nuclear research and educational institutions, nuclear vendors, utilities and regulatory bodies was above expectations and a record number of participants registered to the conference. Out of 236 participants, more than 80% attended the conference in-person, which again proves that the meeting really fosters international cooperation. 

The jubilee conference with the motto “The Excellency of Nuclear Technology and Science. Since 1992” coincided also with the Slovenian presidency of the EU Council in the second half of 2021. The conference offered 44 presentations of latest scientific research in reactor engineering, reactor physics, nuclear power plant operations and nuclear regulations followed by numerous fruitful discussions. 

The first day of the conference brought contributions on education and intergenerational building of nuclear experience, skills and knowledge for strengthening the nuclear sector by Jadwiga Najder (ENS YGN) and Abdesselam Abdelouas (SARENA). Later, international nuclear academics and industry representatives presented important energy milestones of the last year.

At the beginning of each conference day, the conference offered interesting invited lectures and other events, where top experts resented the achievements of nuclear energy and innovations in the field of education and personnel in the nuclear industry. On Tuesday, the invited lecturers focused on technological advances in the nuclear sector, with Elia Merzari sharing innovations in computational fluid dynamics, and the second invited lecture (Alireza Haghighat, Valerio Mascolino, Luka Snoj) focusing on reactor kinetics simulations. On Wednesday, invited lecturer Uwe Stoll presented a paper on the development of the nuclear industry. On the last day of the conference, Alain Becoulet (ITER) presented developments in the field of fusion reactors.

The conference was enriched by the ENEN & OECD-NEA Workshop: The future of nuclear E&T in Europe: Opportunities and Challenges. The workshop provided an overview of the European nuclear scenario focusing on education and training with analysis of different countries status and identification of current challenges and future opportunities.

In parallel to the conference, ENEN PhD Event was held with 13 finalists amongst the European Ph.D. students as well as conference’s traditional Young Author Award competition for the best paper by young author and the Best Poster Award competition.

The lectures at the conferences were complemented by variety of social activities such as the photo exhibition of 30 years of the NENE conference or relaxing trip to the only Slovenian island, island on the lake Bled, with traditional boats. On the island, the more curious had the opportunity to ring the wishing bell in the church and to try typical Slovenian dessert, potica. At the conference dinner, besides the must-be 30th jubilee cake, the “NENE band”, gathered specially for the occasion, surprised conference attendees.