Have you ever thought about nuclear missiles, aircraft carriers, submarines, or how nuclear energy is produced? Then nuclear engineering is the field you should pursue. Nuclear engineering is a field that focuses on the application of science and nuclear energy in radioisotopes, fusion, and fission reactors. Nuclear engineers design advanced nuclear power systems, design, construct, and operate nuclear fission and fusion reactors, and apply radioisotopes in research centers, medicine, and nuclear industries. In the United States, for instance, there are more than 100 nuclear power plants that use nuclear fission to produce around 22% of the electricity used countrywide. Apart from being used to produce electricity, nuclear reactors are also used in the propulsion of aircraft carriers and submarines.
Working in multi-disciplinary teams, nuclear engineers design, operate or decommission nuclear power plants. As a nuclear engineer, you can either be designing new systems, maintaining the existing ones, or doing research on various ways that can be used to enhance the sustainability, stability, and efficiency of nuclear power plants. Decommissioning (shutting down) facilities requires adequate knowledge and expertise in nuclear engineering. It involves the planning and implementation of safety measures for the transport, storage, and disposal of radioactive elements used in nuclear plants.
What does a nuclear engineer do?
Nuclear engineers perform a wide range of tasks in the nuclear sector, producing nuclear energy for domestic and business use. Their duties include:
Designing new power plant, nuclear equipment and maintaining the existing ones to convert nuclear energy to electricity
Decommissioning nuclear facilities
Supervising technicians in nuclear-power stations
Measuring and monitoring radiation levels
Ensuring safety and security in nuclear plants
Careers in nuclear engineering
Some specialties in nuclear engineering include:
Hydraulic engineer especially when concentrating on reactors that are cooled using water systems
Nuclear engineering is a technical field that requires a strong background in knowledge in physics, mathematics, chemistry, and environmental science. A deep understanding of radioactivity is also important. In most institutions, it’s offered as a post-graduate course for students who have pursued science subject and engineering course such as:
Artificial Intelligence (AI) and reactor diagnostics
Who employs nuclear engineers?
Every specialization area in nuclear engineering has a high demand in the job market. Working with cutting-edge technologies, nuclear engineers can work for industries such as:
Electrical power companies
Security agencies in the federal government
Medical institutions and national laboratories
Consulting firms
Reactor manufacturers
Aviation industry
Architect-engineering field
Medical institutions
In medicine, nuclear treatments such as radioactive drugs are used to kill cancerous cells and tumors. Nuclear techniques are applied in medical imaging to assess and diagnose diseases such as epilepsy, cancer, Alzheimer’s, and heart disease accurately. Nuclear engineers can work in radiation therapy, the production of radioactive isotopes for medicines, or radiology.
Security agencies
Nuclear engineers develop nuclear weapons and cutting-edge technologies to combat nuclear terrorism and to prevent nuclear materials from getting into the wrong hands. The engineers design advanced radiation detectors to monitor nuclear materials. The detectors are mainly deployed in border crossings, seaports, and airports to identify any potential materials that can be used to make nuclear weapons.
They also design radiation imagers that can detect and pinpoint the location of radioactive materials. This technology is used to counter nuclear threats before they occur.
Using cutting-edge technologies, nuclear forensics can reveal the origin of nuclear materials after an explosion and track confiscated nuclear weapons materials.
Environment
Apart from being used by security agencies to identify nuclear materials, radiation detectors are also used to detect naturally occurring radiations. These radiations might come from rock formations, radon gas, or from a damaged nuclear plant.
Electrical power companies and nuclear reactor manufacturers
Fission
Engineers develop efficient nuclear fission reactors to convert nuclear energy to electrical energy.
Fusion
Nuclear fusion is applied in the production of helium and hot plasma. Nuclear engineers are involved in the development of sophisticated reactors to make nuclear fusion faster, more efficient, and productive.
Space Power
Small nuclear reactors can be used to propel spacecraft, especially on manned space exploration missions. Through nuclear fission, the reactors convert nuclear energy to electrical energy, providing power to run the spacecraft on longer voyages.
