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Dr. Olga Palazhchenko (PhD ’17), associate professor of chemical engineering and researcher at the University of New Brunswick (UNB) and researcher at UNB’s Centre for Nuclear Energy Research (CNER), has been awarded a Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) CREATE Grant.

The $1.65 million grant will fund Palazhchenko’s Canada's Life cycle for Existing and Advanced Nuclear (CLEAN) program. Funding was announced by the Government of Canada on July 9, 2025, along with the results of NSERC’s Discovery Grants and other associated programs.

CREATE, the Collaborative Research and Training Experience program, supports the training and mentoring of the researchers of tomorrow—students and postdoctoral fellows—in both technical and professional skills development, enabling them to more effectively transition to both academic and industrial or non-academic research careers.

Palazhchenko’s CLEAN program takes UNB’s sector-leading nuclear expertise in chemical engineering and enhances it with additional topics directly identified and informed by industry needs. The program will bring together researchers, educators, industry and government organizations to work on specialized topics including reactor site selection and licensing; on-grid small modular reactor cybersecurity; and safeguarding fuel integrity in accident scenarios.

Over the six years of the program, Palazhchenko anticipates that they will be able to provide training opportunities for around 60 next-generation experts. Through the program, they will have access to a comprehensive experience that incorporates a wide range of knowledge, from the fundamentals of nuclear engineering to industry-relevant, multidisciplinary knowledge on the evolving technologies and practices relevant to a defense-in-depth safety strategy.

Defense-in-depth is the practice of emphasizing a multi-layered set of protective practices that range from the design of a reactor, to access controls and barriers, to passive and active engineered safety measures. This multi-layered defense strategy helps develop protocols for the safe handling and accounting of radioactive material. To properly train professionals in this approach, CLEAN expands its training focus beyond engineering and into the areas of cybersecurity, advanced manufacturing, nuclear fuel and coolant chemistry, and waste storage.

"Canada's rapidly growing nuclear industry urgently needs a significant influx of skilled professionals to support the development of new reactors and the continued operation of existing units,” says Palazhchenko. “Along with our collaborators and co-applicants, UNB's faculty of engineering—which offers a multi-disciplinary specialization in nuclear power—and our CNER have unified through this CREATE to train the future nuclear workforce."

With collaborators from across Canada, the CLEAN program will deepen students’ education and prepare them to be leaders in the nuclear power and research sector to provide a made-in-Canada framework for training opportunities that go beyond those currently available in existing in-class and experiential learning.

“The CREATE grant, led by Dr. Olga Palazhchenko, is a remarkable achievement,” said Dr. Paul J. Mazerolle UNB’s president and vice chancellor. “It will enhance UNB’s contribution to the nuclear sector and support student success through existing and future infrastructure at UNB, CNER and our partner institutions.”

The program will bring together research centers and infrastructure such as test reactors, advanced labs and simulators across Canada, to establish a mobility-focused program for young professionals. New Brunswick stands to benefit significantly from the CREATE grant, which will be particularly effective in addressing Canada’s urgent need for nuclear expert training—especially in regions where university and industry training opportunities are still in early stages of development.

Palazhchenko’s co-applicants include UNB colleagues, Dr. Hamed Asgari, assistant professor of mechanical engineering and Lockheed Martin Research Chair in Additive Manufacturing, Dr. Othman Nasir, associate professor of civil engineering, as well as researchers from the Royal Military College of Canada, the University of Calgary, and the University of Regina. Program collaborators include experts from a dozen organizations, including the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission, Canada’s Nuclear Waste Management Organization, Canadian Nuclear Laboratories and many others.