Probably the most familiar nuclear engineering application is the production of electricity by means of nuclear power. Over 30% of electricity in the EU and roughly 55% in Belgium is provided by nuclear power. Moreover, at a small absolute but high relative scale, Belgium developed on its territory almost all kinds of nuclear activities: power plants, fuel production, radioelement production, engineering companies, accelerator design and fabrication, waste management, safety management, nuclear medicine, research and higher education.

BNEN, the Belgian Nuclear higher Education Network organises a one-year (60 credits) advanced master programme in nuclear engineering. BNEN is organised through a consortium of six Belgian universities and the Belgian Nuclear Research Centre, SCK CEN.
The primary objective of the BNEN programme is to educate young engineers in nuclear engineering and its applications and to develop and maintain high-level nuclear competences in Belgium and abroad. BNEN catalyses networking between academia, research centres, industry and other nuclear stakeholders. All teaching activities take place at SCK CEN. Courses are organised in English and in a modular way; teaching in blocks of one to three weeks for each module allows optimal time management for students and lecturers, facilitates registration for individual modules, and allows easy access for international students.
The Belgian Master of Nuclear Engineering programme is embedded in the European ENEN association, a non-profit international organisation of universities and research centres for the preservation and further development of higher nuclear education and expertise.

The BNEN one-year programme was created in close collaboration with representatives of the utility companies and power plants and teaches students in all aspects of nuclear technology and its applications, creating nuclear engineering experts in the broad sense. The programme consits of a compulsory part of general courses, that needs to be complemented with three elective courses. These elective courses are used to either broaden or deepen a theme. Exercises and hands-on sessions in the specialized laboratories of SCK CEN complement the theoretical classes and strengthen the development of nuclear skills and attitudes in a research environment. Various technical visits are organized to research and industrial nuclear facilities.

Master's dissertation

The master's dissertation is an essential part of the programme, where the students have to apply the compentences they have acquired during the year on a specific research project of their choice. The subjects can be chosen in a large domain of nuclear engineering related topics, that are directly linked to the R&D programme of SCK CEN, research of the professors at the partner universities, or operational problems in industry.

The objective of the Master of Nuclear Engineering is to offer present/future professionals and researchers a solid background in the different disciplines of nuclear engineering.