NNSA is looking for students in STEM and business for Summer 2025 internships at the NNSA labs and plants. 

These internships are part of what is called the NNSA Material Control and Accountability (MC&A) Academy and they are limited to US citizens (due to security clearances).  There are also some GPA requirements that can be found using the link to apply below. 

What is MC&A?  MC&A is how we control and account for special nuclear material (plutonium and enriched uranium) to ensure there is no theft/diversion.  MC&A is a multi-disciplinary and technical area of security that requires engineering, mathematics, chemistry, physics, statistics and accounting.

Why was the NNSA MC&A Academy established?  The NNSA MC&A Academy was established in 2024 to strengthen the technical base of MC&A across the Nuclear Security Enterprise in response to significant attrition and turn over in a highly technical and specialized area of security.  Basically, the NNSA MC&A Academy provides  a feeder pipeline of applicants for our MC&A programs that have technical STEM and accounting degrees, security clearances, significant training and experience. 

What does the internship with the NNSA MC&A Academy do?

• The Academy provides Summer internships at our plants and labs in MC&A and MC&A-related organizations – approximately 20 each year. 
• The interns are all put through the accelerated clearance process to obtain interim Q clearances so that they can perform work on substantive classified projects – each project is different at each site. Note – only the interns that are eligible for interim security clearances will be granted them. 
• The interns will spend 2.5 weeks of their Summer internship at the Academy in an intense, immersive and interactive training session.   

Is it only for the Summer?  In some cases, we can extend the internships over the Academic year at reduced hours (*10 hours per week). 

Is it only for one Summer?  The Academy will evaluate each intern on their work.  If the intern is successful in their internship, they will be invited back for the next Summer where they can intern at the same site or a different one to get a broader experience base.  This will continue for each successive Summer until graduation at which point they will be offered a job at one of our NNSA labs or plants where we request they stay for three years as a payback for their internships, training and clearance.  At some sites, the site will pay off one year of college loans for every year beyond the obligatory three years. 

What happens after the three years?  You could choose to stay on in the MC&A organization and we hope you do!  But the opportunities are almost limitless - – you can decided to go into another related field like international safeguards, non-proliferation, arms control as you will be extremely well qualified for those fields.  You could choose to go into other areas at any one of our national labs and plants (operations, R&D, crit safety, rad protection, etc).  You could even choose to go into other interesting organizations/areas that greatly value the clearance, training, and experience like FBI, IAEA, State, DOE, DoD and many other USG and international agencies.  You will literally be in the top 5 percent of candidates at that point having the clearance, training and experience. 

How do I know if I qualify to get a security clearance?  Please find attached the adjudicative guidelines so that you can see, given your own individual past if you would qualify for a security clearance – in other words, don’t count yourself out. 

Is this a paid internship?  Yes, please click on the application link below to view the stipends and travel allocations. 

Where do I apply?  You apply via this link:  https://www.zintellect.com/Opportunity/Details/ORNL-RSI-2025  Please note that this a general vehicle our office is using and you may well get internship offers that are outside the NNSA MC&A Academy from your application.  As we are trying to target a group of students already interested in nuclear safeguards, we ask that you e-mail me at amy.whitworth@nnsa.doe.gov to let me know you applied so we can pick your application to review through our process – otherwise, we won’t know your interest.   

When should I apply?  Due to the fact that all applicants are to be submitted to the security clearance process, we would like all applications in by the end of February 2025.  The sooner, the better as we will be reviewing them as they come in and making decisions. 

What if I have more questions?  We will be sending out Teams meeting invites to the people that are sending out this e-mail and asking them to forward them to you.  These will be scheduled for Thursday and Friday this week and potentially more if needed.  You can also send an e-mail to Matt Brummett at matthew.brummett@nnsa.doe.gov if you cannot attend one of the Teams meetings.