Career Fields in Nuclear and Radiological Engineering

Nuclear Engineering

Nuclear Engineering encompasses the production, utilization for energy generation and ultimate disposal of fissionable and fusionable fuel resources. This includes:

• the physics of neutron chain reactors and of fusion plasmas;
• the production, removal and conversion of energy from nuclear sources;
• materials for high radiation and high heat flux environments;
• the fabrication, efficient in-reactor utilization and reprocessing of nuclear fuel;
• the safety and environmental impact of nuclear facilities;
• the management and disposal of radioactive materials;
• the economics and regulation of nuclear power;
• the production of fissionable material and of tritium fusion fuel by neutron transmutation;
• the engineering design of advanced fission reactors, fusion reactors and other nuclear facilities;
• the common core disciplines of radiation transport and shielding, radiation detection, the interaction of radiation with matter, and radioactivity.

Nuclear engineers work in the nuclear power industry (nuclear utilities, nuclear reactor and nuclear fuel manufacturers, suppliers, consultants, etc.), federal and state nuclear development and regulatory agencies, the nuclear navy, the national and industrial laboratories engaged in nuclear fusion research and advanced nuclear fission research, the national and industrial laboratories engaged in nuclear weapons stockpile stewardship, and university nuclear engineering departments. With 442 reactors in operation worldwide, of which 110 are in the USA, and 36 additional plants under construction, the nuclear power industry is a multi-trillion dollar industry which provides challenging employment opportunities for a large number of nuclear-trained engineers. Because of the broad and rigorous engineering-physics content of a nuclear engineering education, nuclear engineers are also well-prepared to work in many other multidisciplinary, high-tech industries.

Nuclear energy will be an important component of the world's energy system for the twenty-first century - a safe, efficient, environmentally benign and secure energy system which provides for the world's growing energy needs, while conserving for future generations and allocating to their highest use our finite natural resources. Nuclear power already plays a major role in the present world energy system, accounting for 17% of the electricity produced worldwide, 22% of the electricity production in the USA, and a higher percentage in many other industrialized countries (e.g. France with 77%). Nuclear fusion research has progressed to the stage where the first experimental power reactor (ITER) is in the final year of engineering design by an international team and is scheduled to operate in 2008. Electrical power from fusion should become part of the energy mix by the second quarter of the next century.

Radiological Engineering

Radiological Engineering is an emerging engineering discipline that applies a broad-based knowledge of applied atomic, nuclear and radiation physics, nuclear and radioactive materials, radiation detection, radiation dosimetry, and the fundamentals of engineering and physical science to the utilization of radiation in industry and medicine. This includes:

• the design and analysis of radiation sources and detectors for medical, agricultural, industrial, research and environmental applications;
• nuclear and radioactive materials management;
• production and processing of nuclear source materials and radioisotopes;
• materials transportation and storage; assay and disposal of radioactive waste materials;
• criticality safety;
• the radiological assessment and control of the environmental impact of nuclear and other radiation producing facilities.

Radiological engineers work in the industry that manufactures and supplies isotopic sources, reactor and particle accelerator-based radiation sources, and radiation detectors and cameras. They also work in hospital radiation units and in federal and regulatory agencies. Because of the increased use of radiation sources in both industry and medicine, the demand for radiological engineers is growing steadily.