One of important goals of the Institute for Nuclear Security is to strengthen and promote the nuclear security culture around the globe. To achieve that, the institute is engaging and cooperating with leading international organizations, universities, and a number of foreign countries, including Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, and South Korea. We are also engaging “nuclear newcomer states”—those nations developing nuclear power programs for the first time—to encourage them to participate in student and faculty exchanges with UT, along with other enrichment and curriculum enhancement activities.
International Atomic Energy Agency
The institute became a member of the International Nuclear Security Education Network, a group of experts from academia, international organizations, and professional nuclear material management associations established, under the auspices of the IAEA Nuclear Security Programme.
The institute nominated one of its faculty members, Steve Skutnik, to participate in the King’s College (London, UK) IAEA-sponsored professional development short course in nuclear security. Skutnik was accepted, and will participate in this program in 2012 and 2013. We anticipate that this faculty excahange will strengthen both our program at UT as well as convey some of our experiences to our King’ College colleagues.
World Institute for Nuclear Security
The institute is actively engaged in the WINS accreditation initiative, the Nuclear Security Academy. This work will ultimately lead to higher quality professional development and training in nuclear security around the world through the development and promulgation of best practices and educational quality management systems.
We participated in a WINS workshop defining how WINS will develop, operate, and manage the accrediation process. The workshop, held in Vienna Austria, drew participants from the US, Europe, the Middle East, Asia, and several non-governmental organizations as well as the IAEA. The institute is also working with WINS to be one of the first adopters of the WINS accreditation process for our academic and professional development offerings.
WINS Best Practices in Nuclear Security Workshop
More than twenty countries were represented at the first-ever workshop on best security practices for nuclear power plants and other major nuclear facilities, conducted in the United States at the Y-12 National Security Complex for the World Institute for Nuclear Security. The workshop was jointly sponsored by the NNSA, the Department of Defense, UT, and the Institute for Nuclear Security.
Global Human Capital Outreach
His Excellency Ahmad EY Bishara, Secretary General of the Kuwait National Nuclear Energy Committee, visited UT’s campus and discussed the possibilities for educational cooperation between UT and Kuwait, as well as potential future nuclear programs in Kuwait. As a result of this visit, the university has a number of students in nuclear engineering from Kuwait in 2012.
The institute is engaged in collaboration with South Korea on the joint human capital development project in Asia, sponsored by the US and South Korean governments. This included participation in a curriculum development workshop supporting the Malaysian effort to build an indigenous educational capability in nuclear security.
The institute also hosted a representative from Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah City for Atomic and Renewable Energy, seeking to foster cooperation between Saudi Arabia and UT in the field of nuclear security and energy. This exchange, which began in 2012, is expected to continue with greater engagement with the Kingdom’s emerging nuclear power program.
US Department of State—Partnership for Nuclear Security Program
The institute is collaborating on an ongoing basis with the Partnership for Nuclear Security program. Under this activity, the institute has hosted foreign academics at UT and ORNL, collaborated with PNS to devise faculty and curricular enrichment activities suitable for PNS’s priority countries, and participated with visiting faculty and students in a variety of settings.