August 24, 1958 Chancellor Glenn Seaborg founded the Nuclear Engineering Department at Berkeley. The faculty that year consisted of Professors Lawrence Grossman, Virgil Shrok, Paul Chambre, and Nathan Snyder.
August 1, 1959 Professor Thomas H. Pigford is appointed the department’s first chair in 1959. He served as department chair from 1959-1964, from 1974-1979, and from 1984-1988. Under Thomas Pigford’s guidance, the nuclear engineering faculty grew in number. Additionally, the PhD programs, lab facilities and experimental facilities all expanded. Student enrollment rises to more than 90 graduate students.
March 20, 1963
August 1, 1964 Professor Hans M. Mark served as department chair from 1964-1969.
August 10, 1966 The TRIGA reactor contract had been negotiated by a committee, including Lawrence Ruby, since 1963. It achieved a sustained nuclear chain in 1966.
April 25, 2024 The TRIGA reactor was widely used from the 1970s to the mid-1980s by the department of nuclear engineering for neutron kinetic studies, activation analysis of materials for a wide variety of Berkeley labs and industry, and fission-product retention by nuclear fuel. It was also used by nutritionists to measure trace elements in food, by archaeologists to date
January 1, 1976 A new law passed prohibiting the construction of new nuclear plants until demonstrated technology for disposing nuclear waste exists.
July 25, 1977 Paul Chambre, Thomas Pigford, and Visiting Professor Kunio Higashi initiate studies of radioactive material transport through geologic media for time spans of hundreds of thousands of years. Their theoretical techniques are used in the design of geological repositories in several countries.
August 1, 1980 Professor Donald Olander served as department chair from 1980-1984.
January 1, 1982 Congress passes the Nuclear Waste Policy Act, establishing policy to manage high-level nuclear waste. The Department of Energy identifies nine potential sites, including Yucca Mountain, Nevada.
December 23, 1987 On this day at 9:41 AM, professors performed the last run of Berkeley’s TRIGA Mark III reactor.
August 1, 1988 Professor T. Kenneth Fowler served as department chair from 1988-1994.
January 1, 1990 Per Peterson and Virgil Schrok develop passive safety systems for Light Water Reactors, a new generation of plants that operate by gravity-driven processes.
March 1, 1990 Joonhong Ahn’s analysis of how radionuclides, such as plutonium and neptunium, behave and migrate through geologic formations over long periods is key to understanding the safety of repositories for spent fuel and high-level wastes.
January 1, 1994 Professor Jasmina Vujic, the first woman to join and later chair a top US university’s nuclear engineering department, designs and patents GTRAN2. This stands for General Geometry Transport Theory Code in Two dimensions, and is a new way to mathematically model neutron transport behavior inside a reactor core in complex geometries. GTRAN3 is completed one year later.
August 1, 1995 Professor William E. Kastenberg served as department chair from 1995-2000.
January 1, 2000 Professor Ehud Greenspan develops advanced fuel cycles for Generation-IV reactors using spent fuel to consume long-lived isotopes in nuclear wastes.
August 1, 2000 Professor Per Peterson served as department chair from 2000-2005, and again from 2010-2011.
August 1, 2005 Professor Jasmina Vujic served as department chair from 2005-2009.
January 1, 2007 The National Science Foundation (NSF) and the Department of Homeland Security fund the DoNuTS (Domestic Nuclear Threat Security) project. This project, led by Professor Edward Morse, is developing new technology for detecting special nuclear material in cargo containers.
January 1, 2010 Professor Per Peterson is appointed to President Barack Obama’s Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear Future, a committee established to develop a comprehensive strategy on nuclear waste.
August 1, 2012 Professor Karl van Bibber served as department chair from 2012-2018.
April 1, 2014 Berkeley’s Radwatch Team led by Professor Kai Vetter, launches its air-monitoring system, which allows for nearly real-time viewing of natural airborne radioactivity. This first-of-its-kind system is aimed at helping the general public better understand background radiation.
August 1, 2018 Professor Peter Hosemann currently serves as department chair, since 2018.
Founding of UC Berkeley’s Department of Nuclear Engineering
Thomas H. Pigford
Glenn Seaborg, new chair of the Atomic Energy Commission, appoints Thomas Pigford to serve on Atomic Safety and Licensing Board.
Hans M. Mark
TRIGA Reactor Becomes Operational
TRIGA Reactor Usage
California State Legislature Prohibits New Construction of Nuclear Plants
Studies Initiated of Radioactive Material Transport
Donald R. Olander
Nuclear Waste Policy Act Passed
Final Run of Berkeley’s TRIGA Mark III Reactor
T. Kenneth Fowler
Passive Safety Systems for Light Water Reactors
Radionuclide Analysis
GTRAN2
William E. Kastenberg
Advanced Fuel Cycles for Gen-IV Reactors
Per F. Peterson
Jasmina Vujic
DoNuTS Finds Funding
Blue Ribbon Commission
Karl van Bibber
Berkeley Rad Watch Team
Peter Hosemann
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