About UNENE

The University Network of Excellence in Nuclear Engineering (UNENE), founded in 2002, is a network of Canadian and partner international universities offering nuclear engineering, science and technology research and education programming. Its members also include Canadian industry participants and federal government and Canada’s national nuclear science and technology institution.

With its partners and funding organizations, UNENE works to advance nuclear knowledge, build capacity and heighten visibility of Canada’s strength as a global partner, and to elevate the role of nuclear in advancing global sustainability, prosperity and a clean energy future.

UNENE is located at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, on the traditional territories of the Mississauga and Haudenosaunee nations, and within the lands protected by the “Dish with One Spoon” wampum agreement.

Image: Ontario Tech

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As the centre of a network of universities, industry and government, UNENE’s role is to harness the strength of the network to fund and advance nuclear knowledge, build capacity and heighten visibility of Canada’s university excellence as a contributor to Canada as a Tier 1 Nation and global partner in nuclear science & technology. 

Image: Fedoruk Centre

Nuclear Knowledge: Research and Innovation

Together, we are developing the solutions that can strengthen nuclear technology as an integral part of clean energy systems to achieve climate change goals and strengthen global prosperity and sustainability and also to harness nuclear science for other purposes that contribute to health and well-being, including nuclear medicine.

Capacity: Highly-Qualified People

A core purpose to UNENE’s creation was to ensure a sustainable supply of qualified nuclear engineers and scientists to meet the current and future needs of the Canadian nuclear industry through university education, university-based training and by encouraging young people to choose nuclear careers.

Outreach: Heightened visibility of nuclear university capabilities

Through its outreach and engagement with, and on behalf of, its members and partners, UNENE serves as a conduit for information sharing amongst the nuclear sector and between the sector and other parts of civil society. UNENE can serve as a voice for the collective to elevate awareness of its university members’ capacity and achievements to create opportunities for greater collaboration and to strengthen awareness of the depth in expertise and innovation being created within its member institutions.

Education

Through its Education Advisory Committee and other collaboration mechanisms, UNENE provides a conduit for universities, industry and government to share information, trends, program needs and the latest education developments. This facilitated collaboration provides an opportunity for foundational development of underlying best practices and principles of nuclear education excellence.

Through collaboration of several of our university members, UNENE delivers an M.Eng. program that provides flexible delivery mechanisms for working professionals, as well as independent training credits where need is identified.

Master of Engineering (M.Eng.) Program in Nuclear Engineering

This program provides a part-time educational opportunity to current or prospective nuclear industry employees. Courses for this program are offered in a flexible, concentrated, format to make the best use of a hybrid online and in-person delivery model. A student registers at one participating university but takes courses from experts from several partner universities and within the nuclear industry, to earn an M.Eng. degree – each course can also be taken individually for academic credit. The program has been accredited by the Ontario Council of Graduate Studies (OCGS) since 2005. Read more.

Research and Development

Through its Research Advisory Committee and other collaboration mechanisms, UNENE serves as a conduit between universities, industry and government. It provides a bridge to identify industry research needs, to bring visibility to the work of our university members and to support CANDU and other nuclear technologies in advancing innovation and continuous improvement. It also provides a mechanism to leverage funding from industry and government to ensure capacity in Canada’s most critical nuclear research areas.

Industry members of UNENE fund the Industrial Research Chairs (IRC) and Collaborative Research and Development (CRD) in support of research and development. The IRCs support professorship salaries and their research grants while the CRDs are dedicated only to research grants. All Industry funding is fully leveraged by NSERC for all IRC research programs and CRDs.

The UNENE related research activities are provided in more detail in the Research and Development section of this website. Read more.

Our Member Organizations

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The UNENE network of universities includes 13 Canadian institutions. As well, UNENE has one international educational institution as an associate member and works in partnership with universities and organizations globally to gain and provide access for educational collaboration worldwide. Our university members include:

New Brunswick

Ontario

Québec

Saskatchewan

International University Member – Romania

Industry members serve on a variety of committees to provide knowledge on changing industry needs and trends that provide important insights as they consider areas of research that could be most valuable to strengthening excellence in nuclear facilities, including in Canada’s CANDU stations. 

Additionally, some industry members (namely Ontario Power Generation and Bruce Power) sponsor research by world-class scientists with considerable industrial experience. The program chairs are well respected nationally and internationally. Research funded through UNENE serves as an anchor for establishing research programs and competent research teams across the university network. Industry funding is leveraged to gain additional funds from federal and provincial research grants, thus widening the scope and size of these programs.

UNENE serves as a bridge between universities, industry and government, as well as governmental organizations and their representatives. Natural Resources Canada and the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission both work with UNENE to identify trends and areas of national interest in nuclear science and technology. As well, Canada’s national science and technology institution, Canadian Nuclear Laboratories, which is operated on behalf of government-owned Atomic Energy Canada Ltd., provides both guidance and funding to UNENE and is represented on UNENE’s Board of Directors.