Nuclear Engineering and Nuclear Security: A Growing Emphasis at the University of Tennessee H. L. Hall, * H. L. Dodds, Jr., J. P. Hayward, L. H. Heilbronn, J. W. Hines, H. Liao, G. I. Maldonado, L. F. Miller, R. E. Pevey, A. E. Ruggles, L. W. Townsend, and B. R. Uphadhyaya Department of Nuclear Engineering, The University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN, USA 37996-2300. * Corresponding author: telephone (865) 974-2525, e-mail Howard.Hall@UTK.edu (Received April 30, 2010) ABSTRACT The Department of Nuclear Engineering at the University of Tennessee (UT) has undertaken an effort to develop a robust program in nuclear security education and research within the nuclear engineering curriculum. Multiple new faculty positions have been staffed over the last few years, and new coursework and certification programs have been developed for nuclear security topics. Relevant faculty research efforts are also underway, and the Department is expanding its relationships with Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) and the Y-12 National Security Complex (Y-12). Current status of these efforts is reviewed, new faculty members are high- lighted, and the new curriculum in nuclear security is reviewed. 1. INTRODUCTION A. Trends in Nuclear Staffing In the US, the ability to sustain national and international efforts in nuclear security is eroding as the population of skilled scientists and engineers in this field declines. For example, Wogman et al. noted 1 (in 2004) that 75% of the nuclear personnel in the U.S. Department of Energy national laboratories will be eligible to retire by 2010. This decline is exacerbated by the contraction of programs and facilities wherein hands-on experience with security-significant quantities of nu- clear material and its related processing can occur. Similar “megatrends” are affecting the inter- national nuclear security community 2 and key international organizations such as the Interna- tional Atomic Energy Agency. At the same time, challenges to international nuclear security regimes (such as the Non- Proliferation Treaty) are mounting from various nation-states – Pakistan 3 and North Korea 4-6 have openly become nuclear powers in the last decade, and other suspected proliferant states (such as Iran and Syria) 3, 7 are the subjects of grave concern over their nuclear intentions. Terror- ist groups such as al-Qaeda are on record 8 as seeking nuclear capabilities. The U.S. administration is also engaged in negotiations for a follow-on arms reduction treaty with Russia, replacing the now-expired Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START), and has an- nounced an intention to pursue the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty as well as broad threat re-