Why Is Nuclear Training Important?

To describe her experience at Intercontinental Nuclear Institute Fellow Anna Fortová from the Czech Republic smiling and showing a slide show titled So Much In Just 4 Weeks. The Nuclear Program at UMass Lowell in collaboration with Czech Technical University in Prague developed the Intercontinental Nuclear Institute (INI). The program falls under the umbrella of the U.S. - Czech Civil Nuclear Cooperation Centre (CNCC) and has the assistance of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). INI is a training program designed for young professional working in the nuclear energy sector to advance and broaden their knowledge in the field. The annual summer institute, established in 2015, now has nearly 100 alumni around the world. The original co-directors Prof. Aghara and Prof. Radek Škoda of the Czech Technical University continue in their leadership role. The institute held on two continents, consists of four weeks of intensive hands-on training in reactor system fundamentals, operations and technology, advanced reactor design, radiation detection, dosimetry and protection, fuel cycle management and nuclear materials safety, as well as security and non-proliferation.

Nuclear energy is experiencing a resurgence in the U.S. and around the world. Currently, there are more than 440 commercial nuclear power reactors operating in 31 countries, with a generation capacity of 390 GW of electricity. They supply about 11 percent of the world’s energy demand, and about 20 percent of the United States’ needs.

With more than 60 new reactors being built around the world and many more applying for licenses and under development, especially in the U.S., China, U.K., India and others, this growth has led to an increasing demand for a highly trained and qualified workforce to design, build, operate and maintain the global fleet of nuclear reactors safely and securely.

This demand, which has not been experienced in the nuclear energy field since 1970s, presents opportunities for nuclear engineering graduates to land high-paying jobs in the nuclear energy industry worldwide.

Technical Focus

The Intercontinental Nuclear Institute’s 2018 Award program guest speaker Rear Admiral Clarke Orzalli proudly shows the attendees a photograph of the USS Snook a Gato class submarine that he served aboard as Reactor Controls Assistant.

CNCC will host the INI fellows at Chateau Štiřín near Prague for the first two weeks; UMass Lowell will host the attendees on campus for the last two.

The INI curriculum consists of four weeks of intensive hands-on education and training by a diverse group of international experts, university professors, senior scientists from national laboratories and industry leaders. The topics to be covered include:

  • Reactor system fundamentals and technology
  • Reactor experiments
  • Advanced reactor design
  • Reactor project planning, licensing, operations, engineering, management and economics
  • Radiation detection, dosimetry and protection
  • Fuel cycle management
  • Nuclear materials safety, security and non-proliferation

In addition to classroom lectures, workshops and mentoring, the students will be grouped into teams to work on hands-on lab exercises and poster presentations. There will also be technical visits to commercial nuclear power plants, research reactors and a uranium mine in the Czech Republic.

At UMass Lowell, the fellows will gain first-hand experience in nuclear engineering and radiological health physics with the university’s 1 MW research reactor and the Radiation Laboratory. They will also have an opportunity to tour nuclear facilities in New England, including the Seabrook and Pilgrim nuclear power plants, the Massachusetts Green High-Performance Computing Center, the Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center and the 6 MW research reactor at MIT, as well as the headquarters of leading nuclear engineering companies like CB&I, Canberra and ISO New England.