Progress in University of Nevada, Reno Graduate Certificate in Nuclear Packaging

In 2015, the University of Nevada, Reno (UNR) Mechanical Engineering (ME) Department began offering a 9-credit, regionally accredited Graduate Certificate in Nuclear Packaging (GCNP). The certificate program’s educational objectives are to provide the necessary applied knowledge and skills that mechanical, materials, or nuclear engineers require to be successful as nuclear packaging designers, analysts and users. This includes knowing how to apply required quality assurance methods, regulations, and design goals. It also includes gaining added depth in those required topics, and/or a breadth beyond those topics, to support certificate holder advancement in the nuclear packaging industry. The GCNP courses draw heavily on nuclear packaging safety content that experts at Argonne, Lawrence Livermore and Savannah River National Laboratories developed and taught over the past 20 years with support from the US Department of Energy (DOE) Packaging and Certification Program (PCP). The national laboratories continue to teach the GCNP required courses, which present the foundational information, and several elective courses. UNR also offers several elective courses. The first certificate was awarded in 2017, and 34 students have enrolled incertificate courses. This paper describes recent progress of the GCNP courses and program.