Education

On March 3, the Department of Energy announced the release of $52.8 million in funds through the Nuclear Energy University Program (NEUP) and the Nuclear Science User Facilities (NSUF) program, ending a wait for applicants seeking fiscal year 2025 funds.

NEUP supports U.S. colleges and universities with funding for nuclear technology development, early-career faculty research activities, undergraduate scholarships, and graduate fellowships.

Last year was marked by a general air of excitement across the nuclear sector. From conference halls to board rooms, momentum manifested in numerous new project announcements, robust federal support, and high-aiming ambitions.

This mood was captured by the 2025 ANS State of the Nuclear Workforce survey, which was conducted from October 1–14. In isolation, the results of this year’s survey are promising; but when compared with the 2024 survey, the story is even clearer, with optimism up almost across the board and renewed attention in the industry’s most critical sectors.

For the past several years, the University of North Carolina–Wilmington has hosted volunteer instructors from Wilmington-­based GE Vernova Hitachi Nuclear Energy who teach engineering courses and engage with students. This guest instructor program has grown under the guidance of Amy Craig Reamer, associate professor of practice and director of engineering in the UNCW College of Science and Engineering’s Department of Computer Science. Under her oversight, an informal but strong public-­private partnership has been established to the benefit of UNCW students and the wider Wilmington community.

The University of Michigan’s Fastest Path to Zero Initiative has launched Imaginary Energies, an interactive, generative visualization tool meant to encourage members of the public to imagine future designs for fission and fusion energy power plants. Including a waste management facility on site is as easy as checking a box, and the tool also allows users to add wind, solar, hydro, and other clean-energy facilities. The AI tool was inspired by a design workshop that the university held in 2023.

Igunma

American Nuclear Society member Thompson Odion Igunma is a doctoral candidate in materials science and engineering at the University of Florida (UF) conducting research in collaboration with the Computational Mechanics and Materials Group at Idaho National Laboratory. His work focuses on advanced modeling of the complex interplay between molten salt corrosion, irradiation, and changes in alloy microstructure.

“I see molten salt reactors as a pivotal part of the next generation of nuclear energy,” Igunma said. “Their unique combination of safety, efficiency, and fuel flexibility makes them ideally suited to complement renewables in a low-carbon energy mix.”

The next opportunity to take part in the American Nuclear Society’s Nuclear 101 Certificate Course isn’t until the 2026 ANS Annual Conference at the end of May in Denver, Colo.

In the meantime, now is the perfect time for those looking to expand their knowledge of the nuclear sector to enroll in the Nuclear Licensing & Regulation Certificate Course.

The Department of Energy’s Office of Nuclear Energy has announced more than $590,000 in funding awards to help three universities enhance their outreach in nuclear energy education. The awards, which are part of the DOE Nuclear Energy University Program (NEUP) University Reactor Sharing and Outreach Program, are primarily designed to provide students in K-12, vocational schools, and colleges with access to university research reactors in order to increase awareness of nuclear science, engineering, and technology and to foster early interest in nuclear energy-related careers.

Each year, the Department of Energy’s Nuclear Energy University Program (NEUP) recognizes graduate and undergraduate students for their innovative nuclear energy research. The winners of the Innovations in Nuclear Energy Research and Development Student Competition (INSC) receive honoraria along with travel and conference opportunities, including the chance to present their publications at the annual American Nuclear Society Winter Conference & Expo.

Along with several other nations, Canada has committed to net-zero emissions by 2050. Part of this plan is tripling nuclear generating capacity. As of 2025, the country has four operating nuclear generating stations with a total of 17 reactors, 16 of which are in the province of Ontario. The Independent Electricity System Operator has recommended that an additional 17,800 MWe of nuclear power be added to Ontario’s grid.

BWX Technologies and Purdue University have signed a memorandum of understanding to collaborate on research focused on next-generation nuclear technologies, including small modular reactors and microreactors.

The American Nuclear Society's Executive Director/CEO Craig Piercy recently sat down with Richard Morrison on an episode of the Competitive Enterprise Institute’s Free the Economy podcast.

Earlier this year, Nuclear Waste Services, the radioactive waste management subsidiary of the U.K. Nuclear Decommissioning Authority, hosted a group of five teenagers for a week of exposure to real-world work environments at its facilities in Calderbridge, Cumbria. The students learned about career opportunities and leadership responsibilities at the company while they engaged with senior management and performed activities with several NWS teams, including employees in the environmental, waste characterization, cybersecurity, human resources, and geological disposal facility grants departments.

Energy company Ansaldo Energia recently hosted a ceremony at its headquarters in Genoa, Italy, marking the launch of the Master in Technologies for Nuclear Power Plants program, which it developed in collaboration with Politecnico di Milano. A call for graduates in engineering, physics, and chemistry issued in May attracted more than 300 applications, 26 of which were selected for the program.

Kim

Recently, Nuclear Engineering Department Heads Organization Chair Seungjin Kim talked with Nuclear News about NEDHO’s current condition, governmental funding for NEDHO and university research, the impact of artificial intelligence and other technologies in the classroom, the influence of advanced reactors in nuclear engineering education, and other issues.

Kim, who is an ANS Fellow, is the Captain James F. McCarthy Jr. and Cheryl E. McCarthy Head of Nuclear Engineering at Purdue University, in West Lafayette, Ind. He began his 2025–2026 term as NEDHO chair earlier this year. He took over from the previous chair, Sukesh Aghara, professor and director of the Nuclear and Chemical Engineering Department at the University of Massachusetts–Lowell.

The University of New Mexico School of Engineering held its first-ever nuclear engineering camp, Experience Nuclear Engineering 2025, a free program for high school students.

Applications are now open for the fall 2025 testing period for the American Nuclear Society’s Certified Nuclear Professional (CNP) exam. Applications are being accepted through October 14, and only three testing sessions are offered per year, so it is important to apply soon. The test will be administered from November 12 through December 16. To check eligibility and schedule your exam, click here.

In addition, taking place tomorrow (September 19) from 12:00 noon to 1:00 p.m. (CDT), ANS will host a new webinar, “How to Become a Certified Nuclear Professional.” More information is available below in this article.

Nuclear Waste Services, the radioactive waste management subsidiary of the United Kingdom’s Nuclear Decommissioning Authority, has reported on its inaugural year of the National Youth Forum on Geological Disposal. NWS set up the initiative, in partnership with the environmental consultancy firm ARUP and the not-for-profit organization The Young Foundation, to give young people the chance to share their views on the government’s plans to develop a geological disposal facility (GDF) for the safe, secure, and long-term disposal of radioactive waste.

It’s almost been a full year since the American Nuclear Society held its inaugural section of Nuclear 101, a comprehensive certificate course on the basics of the nuclear field. Offered at the 2024 ANS Winter Conference and Expo, that first sold-out course marked a massive milestone in the Society’s expanding work in professional development and certification.

Following official confirmation in June at the American Nuclear Society’s 2025 Annual Conference, the University of Nebraska–Lincoln has kicked off its first year as the newest ANS student section.

Mike Harkin

When ANS first announced its new Nuclear 101 certificate course, I was excited. This felt like a course tailor-made for me, a transplant into the commercial nuclear world. I enrolled for the inaugural session held in November 2024, knowing it was going to be hard (this is nuclear power, of course)—but I had been working on ramping up my knowledge base for the past year, through both my employer and at a local college.

The course was a fast-and-furious roller-coaster ride through all the key components of the nuclear power industry, in one highly challenging week. In fact, the challenges the students experienced caught even the instructors by surprise. Thankfully, the shared intellectual stretch we students all felt helped us band together to push through to the end.

We were all impressed with the quality of the instructors, who are some of the top experts in the field. We appreciated not only their knowledge base but their support whenever someone struggled to understand a concept.