Jul. 3--UT Permian Basin's nuclear engineering program received notice last week that it successfully obtained a $100,000 grant from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for the HT3R reactor program.

HT3R Director James Wright said UTPB has received more than $695,000 in grant funding from the NRC and competed against famous universities like the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Purdue University and the University of Illinois.

The grant will fund a co-development of a four credit-hour course to facilitate student understanding of the NRC and industry "methods and practices" for the design and licensing requirements of nuclear power reactors. The Los Alamos National Laboratory and UTPB will work together to develop the course.

When new nuclear industry employees are hired, they currently are required to undergo two years of extensive, specialized training at considerable expense to their employer. However, new UTPB nuclear engineering graduates will have the advantage of 16 hours of industry-specific training, including the new course. No two-year training session would be required. The NRC could also send the program to other academic institutions upon completion.

"The NRC and Department of Energy are excited about how our program is focusing on the needs of the nuclear workforce. Our graduates will be more useful employees more quickly, as a result," Wright said.

FOR MORE

--For information about the new bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering with a nuclear track, call Garnet Cameron at 432-552-2096 or e-mail Cameron_g@utpb.edu.

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