UNSW given $7.5m by Tyree Foundation for nuclear centre

A $7.5m gift to UNSW from the Sir William Tyree Foundation will help build the AUKUS submarine workforce and boost nuclear education and research.

At the launch of the UNSW Nuclear Innovation Centre, (from left) UNSW deputy vice-chancellor (education and student experience) Sarah Madison, Sir William Tyree Foundation chair Robyn Fennell, UNSW nuclear scientist Edward Obbard, Peter Tyree, son of Sir William Tyree.

With the aid of a $7.5m gift, the University of NSW has launched a new nuclear innovation centre that is intended to be the “glue” for nuclear education and research in Australia with links to business and the general community.

The UNSW Nuclear Innovation Centre, officially opened by Defence Industry Minister Pat Conroy, is being established with a donation from the Sir William Tyree Foundation.

The $7.5m gift also will support scholarships for masters and PhD students in nuclear engineering, academic positions at the new centre and the centre’s public information program.

The centre will focus on the range of nuclear-related applications including energy production, nuclear medicine, nuclear safety, mining, water desalination, production of clean hydrogen, waste management and space propulsion for interplanetary missions.

It will be cross-disciplinary and will help train experts in areas – including engineering, science, law and policy – that support nuclear technology, and it will boost workforce diversity in the nuclear field.

It aims to help build a nuclear safety culture and also will support the AUKUS nuclear-powered submarine program, which will require thousands of workers to be trained in the nuclear field.

“We want a whole-of-university approach to nuclear science and technology,” centre director Edward Obbard said.

“In order to train the workforce we are looking at, you must involve people from engineering and science and social science.

“Its first reason for existence is to be that glue to co-operate on nuclear education and research.

“It enables industry partnership in a much more direct way. It creates a community and we aim to create a community.”

Associate Professor Obbard said it was critical to have an inclusive and diverse culture in the nuclear industry.

“We need to increase the flow of people coming into the discipline from all walks of life,” he said.

The centre will carry out research with other partners including the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation, the University of Sydney and the University of Wollongong.

The Tyree Foundation, which commemorates engineer and businessman Sir William Tyree, has made numerous donations to UNSW, including one in 2014 that helped set up the nation’s first masters degree in nuclear engineer­ing.