Education


ANS certificate and certification courses continue to improve

March 31, 2025, 12:37PMNuclear News

The American Nuclear Society launched its inaugural Nuclear 101 certificate course at the 2024 ANS Winter Conference and Expo in November. The five-day program, which is designed to provide participants with a robust understanding of nuclear energy and engineering, was the talk of the conference, with nearly 50 attendees from different nuclear organizations participating in the course.

Lego model of Swiss CROCUS reactor provides unique educational tool

March 28, 2025, 9:29AMNuclear News
Detailed view of the Lego CROCUS reactor (as seen with Lego Studio software), with the vessel open to reveal the core structure. (Image: Vincent Lamirand)

For many of us, the height of our accomplishments with Lego blocks might have been constructing little square houses as children. For others, these versatile building blocks are a medium for creating complex models of sophisticated machinery—models that have practical and educational applications. One such individual is ANS member Vincent Lamirand, a reactor physicist at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) Laboratory for Reactor Physics and Systems Behavior (LRS) in Switzerland.

U.K. program offers young people a look at nuclear careers

March 27, 2025, 7:01AMANS Nuclear Cafe
Participants take part in the Centre for Leadership Performance’s Dream Placement program. (Photo: Nuclear Waste Services)

Nuclear Waste Services recently hosted a group of five teenagers for a week of exposure to real-world nuclear industry work environments at its facilities in Calderbridge, Cumbria, in northwestern England. The youth learned about career opportunities and leadership responsibilities at the company. They engaged with senior management and performed activities with several different NWS teams, including the environmental, waste characterization, cybersecurity, geological disposal facility grants, and human resources departments.

NuScale E2 Center opens at RPI

March 26, 2025, 9:30AMNuclear News
NuScale E2 Center work stations at RPI ready for student use. (Photo: RPI)

The opening of an Energy Exploration (E2) Center at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, N.Y., was announced by NuScale Power Corporation on March 24. The training center will provide students from RPI’s School of Engineering an opportunity to gain a firsthand understanding of advanced nuclear technology and the role it will play in the global energy transition, as well as of the features and functionality of NuScale’s small modular reactor technology.

Learn more about NuScale E2 Centers here.

Student tour of DOE site investigates nuclear materials management

March 25, 2025, 12:01PMNuclear News
Students from South Carolina State University and Claflin University listen to Tristan Downey about the legacy control panels found in the Savannah River Site's L Area. (Photo: DOE)

A group of students recently visited the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site, near Aiken, S.C., to get a close look at L Area, a facility the DOE considers critical to nuclear materials management and nonproliferation missions at the site.

Idaho cleanup contractor funds local STEAM learning

March 21, 2025, 9:30AMRadwaste Solutions
Students use materials bought with funds from the IEC’s Full STEAM Ahead in the Classroom grants to make robots. (Photo: DOE)

The Idaho Environmental Coalition (IEC) has provided funding to 15 classrooms in southeastern Idaho to support local educators and encourage the next generation of workers to pursue technical careers, the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management announced. The IEC, which is led by Amentum and includes North Wind Portage as a partner, was awarded a 10-year, $6.4 billion contract in 2021 to manage cleanup operation at the Idaho National Laboratory Site.

Nuclear education and training

March 13, 2025, 7:02AMNuclear NewsLisa Marshall

Lisa Marshall
president@ans.org

This year's ANS Conference on Nuclear Training and Education (CONTE), held in early February, tackled emerging approaches to nuclear skills and the workforce. How do we attract, retain, and qualify our future professionals? What technologies will enhance teaching and assessment methods?

In 2024, the Department of Energy called the following developments “wins for nuclear energy”:

  • Vogtle-4 had its commercial start.
  • The ADVANCE Act to accelerate deployment of advanced reactors.
  • Reactor recommissioning announcements and collaborations with tech companies.
  • Growing our domestic nuclear fuel supply chain and expanding domestic capacity by 200 GW.
  • Demonstration projects such as Natrium, Project Pele, and Hermes.

Prepare for the 2025 Nuclear PE Exam with ANS guides

March 4, 2025, 3:00PMANS News

The next opportunity to earn professional engineer (PE) licensure in nuclear engineering is this fall, and now is the time to sign up and begin studying with the help of materials like the online module program offered by the American Nuclear Society.

Grant awarded for advanced reactor workforce needs in southeast U.S.

March 3, 2025, 9:30AMNuclear News

North Carolina State University and the Electric Power Research Institute have been awarded a $500,000 grant by the NC Collaboratory for “An Assessment to Define Advanced Reactor Workforce Needs,” a project that aims to investigate job needs to help enable new nuclear development and deployment in North Carolina and surrounding areas. 

UMich doctoral student sees nuclear in clean energy future

February 28, 2025, 7:04AMNuclear News
Abdussami poses with UMich NERS professor Aditi Verma at the ANS Winter Conference in 2023. (Photo: Muhammad Rafiul Abdussami)

Muhammad Rafiul Abdussami is hoping to “shape a brighter future” through innovative approaches to nuclear engineering. The young native of Bangladesh, who is known to friends and colleagues as Rafiul, is a doctoral student in his third year in the University of Michigan’s Department of Nuclear Engineering and Radiological Sciences (UMich NERS). He expects to graduate in December 2026. He is also enrolled in the Science, Technology, and Public Policy (STPP) graduate certificate program in the UMich Ford School of Public Policy.

SMR simulator development is focus of North Carolina grant

February 19, 2025, 7:02AMNuclear News

The North Carolina Collaboratory, a research funding agency established by the North Carolina General Assembly to partner with academic institutions and government entities, has awarded a grant to North Carolina State University and GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy (GEH) for research into small modular reactors. The funded research project, “Academic Boiling Water–Small Modular Reactor (BW-SMR) Simulator for Research, Development, and Educational Purposes,” focuses on the development of a digital-based simulator for GEH’s BWRX-300, a Gen III+ light water SMR.

Cape Fear CC expands nuclear technology program

February 6, 2025, 9:30AMNuclear News
Photo: Cape Fear Community College

Cape Fear Community College (CFCC) in Wilmington, N.C., has appointed Kelli Davis its first Nuclear Technology program director. Davis has nearly 20 years of experience in nuclear power, including roles in chemistry, operations, and environmental supervision.

Exciting scholarship opportunities await with ANS

January 31, 2025, 12:00PMANS News

The ANS Scholarship Program offers student members both merit- and financial need–based scholarships ranging from $1,000 to $5,000. Thanks to our donors, the American Nuclear Society will be able to award over $250,000 to students for the 2025–2026 academic year.

UMich NERS builds online platform to promote AI applications in nuclear engineering

January 24, 2025, 9:30AMANS Nuclear Cafe

A recent article on University of Michigan’s Department of Nuclear Engineering and Radiological Sciences (UMich NERS) website highlights the university’s work on the application of artificial intelligence to nuclear engineering. Python-based Michigan Artificial Intelligence Standard Environment (pyMAISE) is a project that is providing an “automatic machine learning benchmarking library—the first of its kind created by nuclear engineers for nuclear engineers.”

CRANE program offers teachings on computational methods in nuclear fusion

January 23, 2025, 9:30AMANS Nuclear Cafe
The University of Tennessee-Knoxville's Alyssa Hayes. (Photo: UTK

University of Tennessee–Knoxville’s Department of Nuclear Engineering highlighted the Computational Research Access Network (CRANE) program in a recent article on its website. CRANE is a free online program “that teaches computational methods in nuclear fusion to students from underrepresented backgrounds,” said Alyssa Hayes, a nuclear engineering Ph.D. candidate at UTK. Hayes is the first chair of the board of directors of the CRANE nonprofit organization.

Perception and participation

January 21, 2025, 9:34AMNuclear NewsLisa Marshall

Lis Marshall
president@ans.org

Six months into my ANS presidency, the pace has been hectic yet good. I’ve taken nearly two dozen trips to student and local chapters; companies; and various regional, national, and international meetings, where I’ve spoken about the current and future path of nuclear: people-centered interactions that focus on the benefits and capacities of our technologies.

Perception, timing, and financing remain challenges. Perception can be addressed in our deeds, so I am heartened by continuing industry collaborations and subsequent communication to strengthen efforts in the arenas of energy security, environmental stewardship, and (inter)national leadership as we assist new-to-nuclear nations; leverage our outreach, educational, and policy instruments; and volunteer our expertise.

In November, I joined ANS’s delegation to COP29 Baku, Azerbaijan, where we strove be the voice of the nuclear community. Our presence at this and future Conferences of the Parties is necessary if we are to continue the momentum around nuclear science and technology.