Maine Maritime Academy to offer nuclear engineering technology major — ANS / Nuclear Newswire
Maine Maritime Academy to offer nuclear engineering technology major — ANS / Nuclear Newswire
Publish Date: 2026-05-19 13:41:00
Source Domain: www.ans.org
The program, which was approved by the MMA Board of Trustees at its May meeting, is designed to prepare graduates for supporting “innovation in maritime nuclear applications, small modular reactors, and the broader nuclear industry—while maintaining the highest standards of safety.”
Nuclear engineering technology programs: The nuclear engineering technology major will become available in the fall 2027 semester. Students entering MMA this fall will be able to transition into the major during their second year. The college officially reintroduced its nuclear engineering minor in March 2025 after three decades without such a program. In May 2025, the first cohort of those students graduated.
Last month, MMA became one of ten colleges and universities to receive funding from the Department of Energy’s Office of Nuclear Energy to enhance training in nuclear safety and workforce development. The school’s $1 million grant is for the establishment of a Center for Education and Training of the Nuclear Merchant Mariner, which will develop the nuclear engineering technology program. The new center will also offer a reactor operator course approved by the International Maritime Organization and demonstrate the feasibility of a floating nuclear power plant.
MMA president Craig Johnson said that the college “is positioning itself at the forefront of the quickly evolving field of nuclear energy, which has been increasingly embraced as a safe, low-carbon alternative to other energy sources.”
Vanguard of innovation: Paul Wlodkowski, the Mossman Chair of Nuclear Engineering Technology at MMA, said that the “vote of the MMA Board of Trustees to establish a Nuclear Engineering Technology program is historic. It reaffirms the academy’s leadership in workforce development for this critical energy sector—leadership that began in 1960—and positions MMA in the vanguard of innovation that will transform the maritime industry.”
In an August 2025 article published in…
