Malaysia

Faculty from National University of Malaysia -UKM (Faculty of Sciences and Technology) visited TAMU twice to discuss cooperation. A Letter of Intent for Cooperation covering academic research, exchange of personnel, education and training, capacity building development, was signed with NSSPI on November 2009. Three Malaysian sponsored students are applying for nuclear engineering graduate studies starting next spring.

The Government of Malaysia submitted a request to the IAEA for assistance under its Technical cooperation program (Development of Nuclear Engineering Academic Program to Support the Peaceful Uses of Nuclear Power in South East Asia (ASEAN) Region). This proposal was prepared in collaboration with NPI and NSSPI as a follow up of previous contacts.

According to the World Nuclear Association, "Asia is the main region in the world where electricity generating capacity and specifically nuclear power is growing significantly." Among those nations interested in adding nuclear power to their energy mix, Malaysia is currently working toward 2021 as a target date for the country to start generating its own nuclear power.  As such, the country needs to develop the required human resources in the academic, industrial, and legal sectors very quickly.  With such an ambitious goal, Malaysian universities are actively pursuing cooperation with top existing programs in nuclear engineering, hand-in-hand with seeking expertise in nuclear safety, security, and safeguards to help it quickly develop a native workforce capable of running the power plants and comprising their regulatory infrastructure. 

The week of March 19-24, 2012, NSSPI helped to host a Malaysian delegation consisting of representatives from two of the country's universities, Universiti Tenaga Nasional (UNITEN) and the National University of Malaysia (UKM), along with the Tenaga National Foundation, an organization that sponsors education both within the country and abroad.  The objective of their visit was to learn more about educational and research activities currently sponsored by NSSPI and the Nuclear Power Institute (NPI) at TAMU. 

The meeting produced a number of ideas for collaboration between NSSPI and the Malaysian universities, including the possibility of organizing a Foreign Field Experience in which US and Malaysian students would tour facilities in South Korea, internships at NSSPI for Malaysian students and nuclear professionals, and developing workshops on safety, security, and safeguards in Malaysia featuring presentations by NSSPI faculty.

From December 5-9, 2011, NSSPI Director Dr. William Charlton traveled to Bangi, Selangor, Malaysia to participate in the "International Workshop on Safeguards Curriculum Development at the National University of Malaysia (UKM)."  The objective of the workshop was for experts from the US and the Republic of Korea to provide an initial consultation to the Malaysian Atomic Energy Licensing Board (AELB) and UKM on safeguards curriculum development as part of the planned Safety, Safeguards and Security (3S) program at UKM.  UKM hopes to become a hub of 3S training in the region, both for Malaysian and international students, and is looking to established programs in the US and Korea for models and program development support.

Other participants in the workshop included representatives from the US Department of Energy's INSEP program, the University of Tennessee, and two Korean universities (Seoul National University and Yonsei University).  The participants all gave presentations on their respective programs and discussed their practical experiences and "lessons learned" through the process of developing a university safeguards education program.  Plans for student and professional exchanges, as well as research collaborations, between UKM and the US and Korean universities were also discussed. 

During the period of March 30 - April 7, Dr. Alexander Solodov travelled to Malaysia as part of a US Department of Energy (DOE) team to participate in a Non-Destructive Assay (NDA) Workshop.  The training workshop was intended for representatives of Malaysian nuclear agencies and universities and was focused on the use of the handheld radiation detector identiFINDER for various applications including: search, location, and identification of radiological and nuclear materials; gamma spectroscopy; and nuclear safeguards features such as uranium enrichment measurements. The workshop was attended by 16 participants from the Malaysian Atomic Energy Licensing Board (AELB), the Agency Nuclear Malaysia (ANM), and the National University of Malaysia (UKM). All participants were actively engaged in the training and were eager to learn how to use identiFINDER in their work. The training was concluded by presentations on various applications of the instruments by the participants of the workshop. All Malaysian representatives expressed interest in future similar workshops covering a variety of NDA related topics.