DOE funds new nuclear cybersecurity training program led by Illinois research team

A research team led by The Grainger College of Engineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign has secured funding from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to develop a first-of-its-kind training and credentialing program focused on nuclear cybersecurity and safety.

The project, part of the DOE’s Nuclear Reactor Safety Training and Workforce Development Program, aims to prepare a new generation of engineers and technicians for a rapidly modernizing nuclear energy sector. As nuclear power plants increasingly adopt digital technologies, experts warn that cybersecurity risks are growing—yet formal training in this area remains limited.

Professor Caleb Brooks of the Department of Nuclear, Plasma and Radiological Engineering is the project’s principal investigator, with contributions from Timothy Grunloh, Tomasz Kozlowski, Kathryn Huff, Syed Bahauddin Alam, and Rizwan Uddin.

The initiative also includes collaboration with industry and government stakeholders to ensure the training aligns with workforce needs.

The program comes at a critical time for the nuclear industry. The United States has joined more than 20 countries in a global effort to triple nuclear energy capacity by 2050, increasing demand for a highly skilled workforce. At the same time, aging infrastructure and the transition to digital instrumentation and control systems are reshaping plant operations and introducing new vulnerabilities.

“Without proactive action, our workforce will be caught unprepared in an era of nation-state cyber threats,” the research team noted in its proposal, pointing to past cyber-related incidents at nuclear facilities as evidence that risks are no longer theoretical.

To address these challenges, the DOE-funded effort will establish dual training pathways: one to teach cybersecurity principles to nuclear professionals, and another to introduce nuclear systems and operations to cybersecurity specialists. The program will also create formal credentials in nuclear cybersecurity, an area where standardized certification options are currently scarce.

A centerpiece of the initiative is the development of the Illinois Nuclear Cyber Range for Training and Education (INCyTE), a new facility that will simulate real-world nuclear power plant systems and cyberattack scenarios. The facility will integrate virtual network environments with physical reactor simulators and Purdue’s digitally controlled research reactor, enabling hands-on training in both plant operations and cyber defense.

The project also emphasizes accessibility and workforce expansion. Through partnerships with community colleges and professional organizations, the team plans to create pathways for technicians and mid-career workers to enter or transition into the nuclear field. State support from Illinois further underscores the regional importance of the initiative, as the state leads the nation in nuclear power generation.

Ultimately, researchers say the program will strengthen the resilience of the existing nuclear fleet while supporting future growth. By integrating cybersecurity into nuclear training at scale, the initiative aims to reduce the risk of disruptions and ensure safe, reliable operation in an increasingly digital—and contested—energy landscape.

NPRE is also participating in these other NRST projects:

• The Great Lakes Partnership to Enhance the Nuclear Workforce (GLP), led by the University of Toledo. This project will work to enhance the existing safety training pipelines for the light-water reactor workforce, attract qualified individuals to the nuclear sector, modernize curricula for advanced reactor concepts, and establish industry recognized nuclear reactor safety certifications.
• Purdue’s project that will develop a novel academic curriculum on Nuclear Quality Assurance, System Integrity Management and Reactor Safety Analysis for students and professionals.