How To Become A Nuclear Process Engineer: What It Is and Career Path

What is a nuclear process engineer and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

2 min read

Quoted expert

Edoardo Sarda Ph.D.

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a nuclear process engineer. For example, did you know that they make an average of $41.35 an hour? That's $86,011 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow -11% and produce -1,500 job opportunities across the U.S.

What general advice would you give to a nuclear process engineer?

Edoardo Sarda Ph.D.

Assistant Professor, Robotics Engineering, Lake Superior State University

Flexibility has become a key asset for new graduates, due to the current COVID19 pandemic. Fortunately, engineers are still in high demand. Even fresh graduates may need to seek opportunities and accept positions working in areas that were not exactly what they had in mind while in college. Besides, the pandemic has created a reality where specific industries are struggling while others are booming. That will undoubtedly impact the demand for new engineers. Lastly, since the United States took a non-uniform approach to fight the pandemic, where every state is independently deciding how to reopen, leading to some states being stricter than others, in addition to new epicenters forming in different areas of the country at different times, new grads may not necessarily end up in the geographical location they may have originally planned.

ScoreNuclear Process EngineerUS Average

Salary

6.7

Avg. Salary $86,011

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

6.7

Growth rate -11%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

6.0

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.28%

Asian 18.27%

Black or African American 3.19%

Hispanic or Latino 7.54%

Unknown 4.39%

White 66.34%

Gender

female 22.22%

male 77.78%

Age - 42

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 42

Stress level

6.7

Stress level is high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

8.2

Complexity level is challenging

7 - challenging

Work life balance

5.6

Work life balance is fair

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a nuclear process engineer

Explore nuclear process engineer education requirements

Most common nuclear process engineer degrees

Bachelor's

75.0 %

Master's

12.5 %

Diploma

6.3 %

Complete relevant nuclear process engineer training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 1-2 years on post-employment, on-the-job training. New nuclear process engineers learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a nuclear process engineer based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real nuclear process engineer resumes.

Research nuclear process engineer duties and responsibilities

Lead and assist maintenance in resolving equipment malfunctions, troubleshoot process problems, and organize and implement preventative maintenance procedures.
Lead and assist maintenance in resolving equipment malfunctions, troubleshoot process problems, and organize and implement preventative maintenance procedures.
Systemize the Deviation/CAPA and train on investigations utilizing DMAIC.

Apply for nuclear process engineer jobs

Now it's time to start searching for a nuclear process engineer job. Consider the tips below for a successful job search:

Browse job boards for relevant postings
Consult your professional network
Reach out to companies you're interested in working for directly
Watch out for job scams

How do nuclear process engineers rate their job?

-/5

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Nuclear process engineer reviews

A zippia user wrote a review on Jun 2020

Cons

very little

A zippia user wrote a review on Nov 2019

Pros

Being on the field doing running inspections and learning from the technicians