Engineering
Nuclear Engineers
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.
Median salary
$127,520
Typical range
$88k – $187k
Job outlook
See national outlook
AI exposure
Plan a path to Nuclear Engineers
Education
Typical entry: Bachelor's degree
Plan my path to this →Typical progression
Nuclear Engineers Intern
Internship
$44,145
~4 mos to advance
Junior Nuclear Engineers
Entry / Junior
$88,290
~2 yrs to advance
Nuclear Engineers
Established
$127,520
~3 yrs to advance
Senior Nuclear Engineers
Senior
$157,475
Internships are a common on-ramp here — they speed up landing that first role and improve your odds, which is why the Safe and High-ceiling plans build one in.
Key skills
A typical day
- •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.
Fields of study
Any field
Top colleges for Engineering
Explore all- Massachusetts Institute of Technology4% admit · $124,000 grad pay
- Stanford University4% admit · $122,000 grad pay
- University of California, Berkeley11% admit · $97,000 grad pay
- Georgia Institute of Technology16% admit · $99,000 grad pay
- University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign45% admit · $80,000 grad pay
Reputation-based selection; stats shown are outcome data per school.