NNSA renews university consortium grant for research and development into nuclear science, engineering, and security

$25 million will go to group led by University of California, Berkeley

WASHINGTON - The U.S. Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration (DOE/NNSA) announced a $25 million grant to a University of California, Berkeley-led consortium of nine universities and six National Laboratories for research and development (R&D) in nuclear science, engineering, and security. This long-term investment will support the consortium at $5 million per year for five years. The grant, awarded for the fourth time to a UC-Berkeley-led consortium, follows the announcement of a funding opportunity issued in November 2024.

"We are proud to support basic science and mission-related R&D while also building a pipeline of potential future NNSA employees."
-- Matt Napoli, NNSA Deputy Administrator for Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation

The mission of the Nuclear Science and Security Consortium (NSSC) is to train the next generation of nuclear scientists and engineers, while carrying out R&D ranging from basic aspects of new technology and methods to programmatic work directly supporting the NNSA's nuclear security and nonproliferation missions.

"The goal of the NSSC is to develop professionals with skill sets to tackle fundamental problems in nuclear physics, science and engineering, radiation detection, and more," said Matt Napoli, NNSA Deputy Administrator for Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation. "We are proud to support basic science and mission-related R&D while also building a pipeline of potential future NNSA employees. This effort supports national security objectives and nuclear nonproliferation priorities, as well as fundamentally contributing to U.S. strategic deterrence."

In addition to UC-Berkeley, other consortium member institutions include:

• Air Force Institute of Technology
• Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• Michigan State University
• North Carolina State University
• University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
• University of Nevada, Las Vegas
• University of Tennessee, Knoxville
• University of Washington

These nine universities will partner with six National Laboratories: Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, and Sandia National Laboratories.

UC-Berkeley's new award has two objectives: Perform research in the basic science and engineering disciplines foundational to nuclear nonproliferation in collaboration with DOE National Laboratories; and develop world-class nuclear scientists and engineers with expertise in the critical disciplines required for careers in the National Laboratories and other government agencies with nuclear missions.

The NSSC has five main research focus areas:

• Low-Energy Nuclear Physics
• Nuclear Chemical Engineering
• Nuclear Materials Science
• Nuclear Engineering
• Radiation Detection Science.

These focus areas are supported by two crosscutting areas: Computing and Optimization for Nuclear Applications as well as Education in Nuclear Science, Technology, and Policy. The common goal is a focus on current and emerging nuclear security challenges.

This structure provides a clear pathway for collaborative R&D with DOE's National Laboratories supporting a range of research areas in both fundamental and applied nuclear science and engineering. Participants from the consortium will engage in research that could lead to their futures as scientists, engineers, technicians, operational personnel, and intelligence professionals, among others.