A Graduate Certificate Program in Nuclear Safeguards Technology

While there are a number of university graduate-education programs that address nonproliferation and safeguards policy issues, there are none in the United States that train students in the specific technical aspects of nuclear safeguards. Formal education of this kind is necessary to sustain the flow of technically trained individuals to diverse programs in safeguards, nonproliferation, and national security. In response to this need, the University of Missouri-Columbia, with assistance from Brookhaven National Laboratory, is initiating a Graduate Certificate Program in Nuclear Safeguards Technology. Students seeking advanced degrees in a variety of technical areas will complete a required sequence of courses in order to receive the certification. Required course work covers topics such as Nuclear Material Control and Accountability (MC&A), Physical Protection (PP), nuclear measurements, and a variety of other relevant subjects. Laboratory-based instruction will be included which will utilize the University of Missouri Research Reactor (MURR). MURR is the largest university-based research reactor and has extensive laboratory resources including a Canberra Aquila MPC&A Operational Monitoring demonstration system.