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About the Institute

The Institute for Nucle­ar Security was formed by the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, in January 2012. The Institute is managed within the Howard H. Baker Jr. Center for Public Policy.

The Institute builds on a tradi­tionally strong relationship between the university and the federal facilities in East Tennessee that have major nuclear security missions. As these collabo­rations grew, it became obvious that the formation of a regional entity such as the institute would be nec­essary to help build greater efforts that cross many academic disciplines.

Oak Ridge National Laboratory, the Y-12 National Security Complex, and Oak Ridge Associated Universities joined with UT as charter members when the institute was formed.

The mission of the institute is to align the collec­tive expertise and capabilities available within the membership to grow an internationally-recognized resource that plays a pivotal role in global nuclear security efforts by:

  • Providing expertise to shape and support the national and international enterprises for nuclear security;
  • Enhancing US and international security by providing effective support for all aspects of the nuclear security mission—from pol­icy analysis through research, education, training, and field activities; and
  • Expanding our contributions and repu­tation in these communities and supporting growth in the levels of funding and in­fluence available to our membership.

The institute serves as a facilitator for collaboration among its members to tackle multiorganization­al, multidisciplinary work critical to national and global needs in nuclear security. This framework leverages the strengths of all of the members to ad­dress global challenges in the broad field of nuclear security in a more effective manner than any single partner can accomplish alone.