ADVANCED NUCLEAR ENERGY INITIATIVE
About Advanced Nuclear Energy Initiative (ANEI)
The Advanced Nuclear Energy Initiative (ANEI) responds to the growing research and training needs for nuclear fission energy and nuclear fusion energy.
By focusing on the development and application of advanced nuclear energy technologies, ANEI aims to address critical energy challenges and contribute to the energy transition toward a sustainable energy systems regionally and nationally.
Education & Training
ANEI’s education and training initiatives will start with a graduate specialization in ECE; potentially grow to faculty wide and undergraduate programs.
Research
ANEI’s research is based on the existing research activities in nuclear fission and fusion, leveraging relevant expertise developed in the Future Energy Systems; potentially establishing a Research Centre.
Our Latest News
A new ANEI course on Instrumentation and Control is being offered in Fall 2026. ECE 730 A03, “Instrumentation and Control for Advanced Nuclear Energy Systems”, examines the instrumentation and digital control systems that govern the operation of nuclear power plants, with particular attention to advanced reactors and small modular reactors. It bridges control engineering and nuclear energy systems, moving from sensing and plant instrumentation through classical and digital control theory to reactor kinetics, grid integration, AI-assisted operation, and the cybersecurity of safety-critical digital systems.
The course is designed for graduate students from both Electrical Engineering and Nuclear Energy backgrounds. Students will get the most out of it with undergraduate-level linear systems and feedback control, together with introductory reactor physics – but students strong in one of these areas and not the other are explicitly encouraged to enroll, and supporting material is built into the course for both directions. Students with questions about their preparation are welcome to contact the instructor.
Instructor: Dr. Md Zahurul Islam, Adjunct Professor, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Contact: mzislam@ualberta.ca