Careers in Nuclear Engineering
World will be driven by nuclear technologies in future. What we see for now is just the tip of the iceberg; there is lot more need to be done to harness the benefits of nuclear resources. Governments and industries worldwide are striving hard to get ahead being nuclear power rich. This is new field in the domain of engineering when compared to branch like civil engineering and thus naturally offers immense scope for new aspirants.
Candidates who complete college studies in nuclear engineering are called nuclear engineers. The job of a nuclear engineer is to perform research and design methodologies and work on machines and systems to obtain benefits from nuclear resources. These engineers are also responsible to prevent workers in nuclear plant and masses around from nuclear radiation hazards. Besides harnessing nuclear power from nuclear materials, nuclear engineers are responsible for medical uses of nuclear materials.
Role of a Nuclear Engineer
In industry, a nuclear engineer commonly performs the following types of activities:
- Prepares designs of nuclear equipment and nuclear reactors etc.
- Supervise nuclear reactors, waste disposal and nuclear power production.
- Make sure that nuclear facility meets the safety norms.
- In case of accidents, finds reasons of faults, prepares reports and hence come up with suggestion to prevent any future accidents.
- Prepare guidelines for fellow workers and industry managers regarding working and handling of nuclear materials.
- Perform laboratory test to use nuclear material and disposal techniques etc.
Skills Required for Nuclear Engineers
Academic requirement: Academically you need minimum bachelor’s degree i.e., B.E/B.Tech/B.S or equivalent from a recognized institute to start career as a Nuclear engineer. The bachelor’s degree in engineering is a 4year program offered to those candidates who have completed K-12 standard of education with physics, chemistry and mathematics. Working with rigorous mathematical and computational formulae and understanding the rendezvous of physics are some necessary trait to enroll in a bachelor’s program in nuclear engineering.
To join postgraduate degree programs like MS, M.Tech and Ph.D in nuclear engineering disciplines universities ask for score in standardized test followed by essay test and personality interview. Minimum qualification to join masters level program and higher is graduate qualification in nuclear engineering and related discipline.
Personal Skills
To be successful in career one needs to possess the following personality traits:
Analytical Skill requirements- Nuclear Engineer must possess sound analytical skills to understand the working circumstances of the Nuclear systems.
Business Skills Requirements- Nuclear Engineer must be good in numbers to predetermine what a project will cost and how a company or government will benefit from it.
Critical Thinking Abilities- Nuclear Engineer must be able to think under what circumstances designs, materials and end product or project may fail and what should be alternative options in case of a failure so as to minimize losses. Nuclear Engineers work in highly sensitive environments where a small glitch may cost you a fortune within no time.
Team Worker- Nuclear Engineer works in team, he / she must need to be a good team worker, able to learn and make others learn in work environment.
Writing Skills- Nuclear Engineer works in a team with fellow engineers and other coworkers. They should have good writing and designing skills to present clear papers which other team workers could fully understand.