Nuclear Engineering

What Nuclear Engineering Majors Need to Know

People with careers related to nuclear engineering tech were asked what knowledge areas, skills, and abilities were important for their jobs. They weighted these areas on a scale of 1 to 5 with 5 being the highest.

Knowledge Areas for Nuclear Engineering Tech Majors

According to O*NET survey takers, a major in nuclear engineering tech should prepare you for careers in which you will need to be knowledgeable in the following areas:

• Public Safety and Security - Knowledge of relevant equipment, policies, procedures, and strategies to promote effective local, state, or national security operations for the protection of people, data, property, and institutions.
• Mechanical - Knowledge of machines and tools, including their designs, uses, repair, and maintenance.
• Physics - Knowledge and prediction of physical principles, laws, their interrelationships, and applications to understanding fluid, material, and atmospheric dynamics, and mechanical, electrical, atomic and sub- atomic structures and processes.
• Education and Training - Knowledge of principles and methods for curriculum and training design, teaching and instruction for individuals and groups, and the measurement of training effects.
• Engineering and Technology - Knowledge of the practical application of engineering science and technology. This includes applying principles, techniques, procedures, and equipment to the design and production of various goods and services.

Skills for Nuclear Engineering Tech Majors

When studying nuclear engineering tech, you’ll learn many skills that will help you be successful in a wide range of jobs - even those that do not require a degree in the field. The following is a list of some of the most common skills needed for careers associated with this major:

• Active Listening - Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.
• Monitoring - Monitoring/Assessing performance of yourself, other individuals, or organizations to make improvements or take corrective action.
• Operation Monitoring - Watching gauges, dials, or other indicators to make sure a machine is working properly.
• Critical Thinking - Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions or approaches to problems.
• Speaking - Talking to others to convey information effectively.

Abilities for Nuclear Engineering Tech Majors

A major in nuclear engineering tech will prepare for your careers in which the following abilities are important:

• Deductive Reasoning - The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.
• Perceptual Speed - The ability to quickly and accurately compare similarities and differences among sets of letters, numbers, objects, pictures, or patterns. The things to be compared may be presented at the same time or one after the other. This ability also includes comparing a presented object with a remembered object.
• Information Ordering - The ability to arrange things or actions in a certain order or pattern according to a specific rule or set of rules (e.g., patterns of numbers, letters, words, pictures, mathematical operations).
• Inductive Reasoning - The ability to combine pieces of information to form general rules or conclusions (includes finding a relationship among seemingly unrelated events).
• Near Vision - The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer).

How Much Do Nuclear Engineering Majors Make?

Salaries According to BLS

Nuclear Engineering Tech majors often go into careers with median salaries of $79,970. This median refers to all degree levels, so the salary for a person with just a bachelor’s degree may be a little less and the one for a person with an advanced degree may be a little more.

To put that into context, according to BLS data from the first quarter of 2020, the typical high school graduate makes between $30,000 and $57,900 a year (25th through 75th percentile). The average person with a bachelor’s degree (any field) makes between $45,600 and $99,000. Advanced degree holders make the most with salaries between $55,600 and $125,400.

Amount of Education Required for Careers Related to Nuclear Engineering

Some degrees associated with nuclear engineering tech may require an advanced degree, while others may not even require a bachelor’s in the field. In general, the more advanced your degree the more career options will open up to you. However, there is significant time and money that needs to be invested into your education so weigh the pros and cons.

Find out what the typical degree level is for nuclear engineering tech careers below.

Education Level	Percentage of Workers
High School Diploma - or the equivalent (for example, GED)	30.8%
Post-Secondary Certificate - awarded for training completed after high school (for example, in agriculture or natural resources, computer services, personal or culinary services, engineering technologies, healthcare, construction trades, mechanic and repair technologies, or precision production)	18.5%
Some College Courses	7.9%
Associate’s Degree (or other 2-year degree)	37.2%
Bachelor’s Degree	6.5%

Online Nuclear Engineering Programs

In the 2020-2021 academic year, 14 schools offered some type of nuclear engineering technology program. The following table lists the number of programs by degree level, along with how many schools offered online courses in the field.

Degree Level	Colleges Offering Programs	Colleges Offering Online Classes
Certificate (Less Than 1 Year)	0	0
Certificate (1-2 years)	3	2
Certificate (2-4 Years)	0	0
Associate’s Degree	13	4
Bachelor’s Degree	0	0
Post-Baccalaureate	0	0
Master’s Degree	1	1
Post-Master’s	0	0
Doctor’s Degree (Research)	0	0
Doctor’s Degree (Professional Practice)	0	0
Doctor’s Degree (Other)	0	0

Is a Degree in Nuclear Engineering Worth It?

The median salary for a nuclear engineering tech grad is $79,970 per year. This is based on the weighted average of the most common careers associated with the major.

This is 100% more than the average salary for an individual holding a high school degree. This adds up to a gain of about $801,400 after 20 years!

Majors Related to Nuclear Engineering

You may also be interested in one of the following majors related to nuclear engineering tech.

Major	Number of Grads
Engineering-Related Fields	4,838
Quality Control Technology	736
Industrial Production Technology	440
Engineering Technology (Other)	288
Construction Engineering Technology	264
General Engineering Technology	255
Computer Engineering Technology	179
Drafting & Design Engineering Technology	145
Mechanical Engineering Technology	104
Nanotechnology	98
Energy Systems Technologies	95
Environmental Control Technology	89
Electromechanical Engineering Technology	43
Architectural Engineering Technology	39
Electronics Engineering Technology	39
Engineering-Related Technologies	15

References

*The racial-ethnic minorities count is calculated by taking the total number of students and subtracting white students, international students, and students whose race/ethnicity was unknown. This number is then divided by the total number of students at the school to obtain the racial-ethnic minorities percentage.

• College Factual
• College Scorecard
• National Center for Education Statistics
• O*NET Online
• U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
• Usual Weekly Earnings of Wage and Salary Workers First Quarter 2020

More about our data sources and methodologies.