Home / Career Explorer / Engineering Careers

Nuclear Engineers

Home / Career Explorer / Engineering Careers

	Median Wage (USD, 2024)	Projected Job Openings (2023-2033)	Projected Growth (2023-2033)
National Statistics	$125,460	700	-0.80%
State Statistics	-	-	-
City Statistics	-	-	-

Statistics

National

State

City

State

City

$125,460

Median Wage (USD, 2023)

700

Projected Job Openings (2023-2033)

-0.80%

Projected Growth (2023-2033)

Conduct research on nuclear engineering projects or apply principles and theory of nuclear science to problems concerned with release, control, and use of nuclear energy and nuclear waste disposal.

Experience Requirements Overview

Job Zone Four: Considerable Preparation Needed
A considerable amount of work-related skill, knowledge, or experience is needed for these occupations. For example, an accountant must complete four years of college and work for several years in accounting to be considered qualified.
Most of these occupations require a four-year bachelor's degree, but some do not.
Employees in these occupations usually need several years of work-related experience, on-the-job training, and/or vocational training.

Education, Training and Experience

Required Level of Education: Bachelor's Degree

Related Work Experience: Over 2 years, up to and including 4 years

On-Site or In-Plant Training: Over 1 year, up to and including 2 years

On-the-Job Training: Over 6 months, up to and including 1 year

Detailed Work Activities

Investigate the environmental impact of projects.
Develop operational methods or processes that use green materials or emphasize sustainability.
Prepare detailed work plans.
Coordinate safety or regulatory compliance activities.
Prepare technical or operational reports.
Analyze test or validation data.
Document design or operational test results.
Research energy production, use, or conservation.
Confer with technical personnel to prepare designs or operational plans.
Communicate technical information to suppliers, contractors, or regulatory agencies.
Investigate safety of work environment.
Monitor processes for compliance with standards.
Update technical knowledge.
Research energy production, use, or conservation.
Direct energy production or management activities.
Design energy production or management equipment or systems.
Resolve operational performance problems.
Advise others on health and safety issues.
Prepare procedural documents.
Test performance of electrical, electronic, mechanical, or integrated systems or equipment.
Direct equipment maintenance or repair activities.
Direct energy production or management activities.

Work Values

Achievement

Occupations that satisfy this work value are results oriented and allow employees to use their strongest abilities, giving them a feeling of accomplishment. Corresponding needs are Ability Utilization and Achievement.

Working Conditions

Recognition

Relationships

Support

Independence

Tasks

Design or develop nuclear equipment, such as reactor cores, radiation shielding, or associated instrumentation or control mechanisms.
Monitor nuclear facility operations to identify any design, construction, or operation practices that violate safety regulations and laws or could jeopardize safe operations.
Initiate corrective actions or order plant shutdowns in emergency situations.
Examine accidents to obtain data for use in design of preventive measures.
Direct operating or maintenance activities of nuclear power plants to ensure efficiency and conformity to safety standards.
Design or oversee construction or operation of nuclear reactors, power plants, or nuclear fuels reprocessing and reclamation systems.
Direct environmental compliance activities associated with nuclear plant operations or maintenance.
Write operational instructions to be used in nuclear plant operation or nuclear fuel or waste handling and disposal.
Prepare technical reports of findings or recommendations, based on synthesized analyses of test results.
Prepare environmental impact statements, reports, or presentations for regulatory or other agencies.
Develop or contribute to the development of plans to remediate or restore environments affected by nuclear radiation, such as waste disposal sites.
Conduct tests of nuclear fuel behavior and cycles or performance of nuclear machinery and equipment to optimize performance of existing plants.
Design fuel cycle models or processes to reduce the quantity of radioactive waste generated from nuclear activities.
Consult with other scientists to determine parameters of experimentation or suitability of analytical models.
Recommend preventive measures to be taken in the handling of nuclear technology, based on data obtained from operations monitoring or from evaluation of test results.
Discuss construction project proposals with interested parties, such as vendors, contractors, or nuclear facility review boards.
Perform experiments that will provide information about acceptable methods of nuclear material usage, nuclear fuel reclamation, or waste disposal.
Conduct environmental studies on topics such as nuclear power generation, nuclear waste disposal, or nuclear weapon deployment.
Design or direct nuclear research projects to develop, test, modify, or discover new uses for theoretical models.
Keep abreast of developments and changes in the nuclear field by reading technical journals or by independent study and research.

Work Styles

Achievement/Effort

Job requires establishing and maintaining personally challenging achievement goals and exerting effort toward mastering tasks.

Persistence

Initiative

Leadership

Cooperation

Concern for Others

Social Orientation

Self-Control

Stress Tolerance

Adaptability/Flexibility

Dependability

Attention to Detail

Integrity

Independence

Innovation

Analytical Thinking

Data Source: This page includes information from the O*NET 28.0 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license. O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. This page includes Employment Projections program, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics program, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Session has been expired