A Decade of INSA: Establishing Excellence in Nuclear Security

The International Nuclear Nonproliferation and Security Academy (INSA) was established in February 2014 under the Korea Institute of Nuclear Nonproliferation and Control (KINAC) as part of the Republic of Korea (ROK) government’s commitment at the 2010 Nuclear Security Summit (NSS) in Washington, D.C., to develop a Nuclear Security Center of Excellence (COE). INSA’s core mission is to provide education and training in nuclear security and nonproliferation, supporting the ROK government’s policy on the peaceful use of nuclear energy across the globe. For over a decade, INSA has played a pivotal role in strengthening regional and global nuclear nonproliferation and security capacity by designing, developing, and delivering its education and training programs. This study reviews the evolution of INSA’s educational programs, analyzing their structure and curriculum development process. Notable achievements, as well as contextual challenges, are examined quantitatively and qualitatively, particularly in relation to international outreach, which remains a fundamental component of INSA’s mission. Further, infrastructure development for hands-on and virtual reality (VR) based training equipment highlighted its contributions to forming the nuclear security culture, ultimately strengthening the global nuclear security regimes.