NE Secures $4M Grant to Develop Nationwide Nuclear Safety Training
The University of Tennessee’s Department of Nuclear Engineering (NE) is leading development of a comprehensive nuclear workforce safety training pathway that will be used across the nation, thanks to a combined $4 million grant from the United States Department of Energy (DOE), the state of Tennessee, and the state of Texas. NE Professor Nick Brown is heading the massive effort.
“This funding will further our efforts to ensure that a trained workforce exists to build the new nuclear fuel and nuclear power industry in East Tennessee,” said TVA Department Chair Brian D. Wirth. “Professor Brown and the NE department team, in partnership with our local community and technical colleges, will develop new training and certificate programs that will be distributed throughout the state.”
Tennessee is home to more than 230 companies in the nuclear enterprise. These businesses employ nearly 200,000 Tennesseans and cover all parts of the nuclear life cycle, from new fuel fabrication to energy production and used fuel recycling.
With the demand for clean energy rising due to new data centers and AI technology, the demand for a well-trained nuclear workforce will also increase. As a national leader in nuclear engineering education, NE will help prepare Tennesseans of all backgrounds to contribute to the industry’s safe expansion.
“We’re working with everybody from the kindergarten level all the way through engineers, technical staff, welders—workers involved in all aspects of the nuclear enterprise,” Brown said. “That diversity of audience is something that’s unique about this project, and I embrace it wholeheartedly. It shows that UT is not just a research organization; we’re an organization dedicated to training all of the citizens of Tennessee. This is a wonderful opportunity for us to exercise that part of our mission.”
Creating a New Foundation
The project brings together UT’s Tickle College of Engineering (TCE), the University of Texas-Austin, and colleges, utility companies, nuclear industry companies, and nuclear trade groups across the nation to develop and implement a reactor safety training curriculum that aligns with the industry’s workforce needs.
The new curriculum will be implemented by grant participants across Tennessee and shared via the American Nuclear Society and other national organizations, helping ensure that every American citizen understands the importance of reactor safety culture.
“Most of the people who work at a nuclear plant are not nuclear engineers,” Brown said, “so it’s vital to ensure that the entire workforce fully understands the importance of safety culture and the fundamentals of reactor safety.”
While TCE is the grant’s organizational leader, the grant emphasizes equal input between academic centers like UT, Roane State and Chattanooga Community Colleges, and the Tennessee College of Applied Technology Knoxville and working organizations like the Tennessee Valley Authority, United Cleanup Oak Ridge, and nuclear labor unions.
“I’m excited about engaging will all aspects of the nuclear workforce and future nuclear workers,” said Brown. “We have a lot to learn from those folks that actually do the hands-on work that is required in handling, constructing, and operating nuclear facilities.”
Far-Reaching Impacts
Brown is a world expert in a type of reactor accident known as reactivity-initiated accidents, one of the most common design-based accidents in nuclear reactors.
“Nuclear energy is very safe,” he said, “but to some extent, accidents are inevitable. They’re extremely important events to study and to understand. It’s vital for us to ensure that all nuclear workers are trained on the potential impact of reactor accidents—and how to mitigate those accidents—so there’s no harm to workers or the public.”
Enhancing NE programming at UT is a key part of that effort. The existing NE minor for non-majors will be brought into alignment with the nuclear industry’s safety training standards, making the minor a nationally recognized credential. Courses for NE majors and graduate students will be reworked to more strongly emphasize reactor safety. NE will also introduce an annual multi-week training session in partnership with the University of Texas-Austin.
However, just as the nuclear industry extends far beyond nuclear engineers, the training modules created and demonstrated under this grant will reach far beyond UT.
“I hope this project will have a really direct, positive impact on the citizens of Tennessee—helping ensure that our electricity bills are lower and we can meet the emerging energy demand while making all of us safer,” Brown said.
Contact
Izzie Gall ([email protected])