Senator Jim Webb (D-VA) today announced a $65,527 grant for Virginia Tech's graduate nuclear engineering certificate program. Webb, an advocate in the Senate for expanding the nation's nuclear energy resources, said that the grant from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission will help complete the online curriculum required for the certificate program by adding two courses in Nuclear Reactor Analysis and Nuclear Fuel Cycle (including aspects of nuclear safeguards and nonproliferation).
This online nuclear engineering graduate certificate will be offered nationwide to increase the workforce pool by strengthening the knowledge of engineers already in the nuclear industry and by facilitating the transfer of engineers from the non-nuclear engineering industry into nuclear engineering-related firms. In addition, Virginia Tech will design and offer a non-credit refresher course in engineering mathematics for those returning to school after many years.
"By making strategic investments in nuclear power and other renewable energy technologies, we can effectively address our nation's energy requirements and also the need to reduce carbon dioxide emissions," said Senator Webb. "Nuclear engineering training programs at universities such as Virginia Tech can help move the United States toward clean, carbon-free sources of energy and strengthen our workforce with high-paying jobs on U.S. soil."
In November 2009, Senator Webb introduced the Clean Energy Act of 2009 (S. 2776) with Senator Lamar Alexander. This bipartisan bill would promote further investment in clean energy technologies, including nuclear power and renewable sources of energy. Specifically, the Clean Energy Act of 2009 authorizes $20 billion over the next ten years to fund loan guarantees, nuclear education and workforce training, nuclear reactor lifetime-extension, and incentives for the development of solar power, biofuels, and alternative power technologies. This bill would augment any comprehensive climate and energy legislation by moving our country toward providing clean, carbon-free sources of energy, helping to invigorate the economy, and strengthening our workforce with educational opportunities and high-paying jobs.
Virginia Tech was one of the earlier universities to start a nuclear engineering program in 1956 which included an on-campus research reactor in 1960. However, the program was terminated in the late 1980's due to the demise of the nuclear industry and lack of student enrollment. Due to industry demand, Virginia Tech restarted its nuclear engineering program in August 2007 by teaching undergraduate and graduate nuclear engineering courses. Enrollment for the fall 2009 semester was 217 students, consisting of 161 undergraduate students and 56 graduate students. The majority of the graduate students are located off-campus and employed in the nuclear industry at various sites within Virginia. Virginia Tech is currently working on the development of a Minor in Nuclear Engineering at the undergraduate level and a Master's and Ph.D. degree in Nuclear Engineering at the graduate student level. These degree offerings should become available over the next one to two years.
As part of the Energy Policy Act of 2005, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) under the Nuclear Education Grant Program began funding up to $4.7 million in grants and other vehicles to institutions of higher education to support courses, studies, training, curricula, and disciplines pertaining to nuclear safety, security, or environmental protection, and any other fields that the Commission determines to be critical to the regulatory mission of the NRC.
For more information, please see: http://www.nrc.gov/about-nrc/grants.html