Some countries are carrying out national education initiatives to promote nuclear knowledge, such as the examples in the USA, the UK, Japan and France described below.

USA: NEUP (2009)

The US Department of Energy’s Office of Nuclear Energy (DOE) created Nuclear Energy University Programs (NEUP) in 2009 to consolidate its university support under one programme. NEUP funds nuclear energy research and equipment upgrades at US colleges and universities, and pro­vides scholarships and fellowships to students. DOE personnel in Washington DC oversee the programme and the Idaho-based NEUP Integration Office administers the awards. NEUP’s goals and objectives are to support out­standing, cutting-edge and innovative research at US universities by:

• Attracting the brightest students to the nuclear profession and support­ing the nation’s intellectual capital in nuclear engineering and relevant nuclear science, such as health physics, radiochemistry and applied nuclear physics

• Integrating research and development (R&D) at universities, national laboratories and industry to revitalize nuclear education

• Improving university and college infrastructures for conducting R&D and educating students

• Facilitating the transfer of knowledge from the aging nuclear workforce to the next generation of workers.