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UT hosts Moroccan delegation

International Engagements

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.