Headline risk
10%
Low RiskNuclear engineers
United States AI Work Index tracks this occupation on the shared structural baseline and then layers on local demand resilience, wages, and confidence.
Why This Score
Share of job tasks that overlap with current AI capabilities
Median annual wage
Projected employment change over 10 years
Typical preparation needed for this occupation
Occupation profile
Conduct research on nuclear engineering projects or apply principles and theory of nuclear science to problems concerned with release, control, and use of nuclear energy and nuclear waste disposal.
Task evidence
100% weighted task match · 0% effective coverage
Scores combine AI task overlap, human advantages, and local demand. How it works
United States Now
Median Wage
USD 127,520
Employment 2024
15.4K
Projected Change (2024–34)
-1.1%
Openings (2024–34)
0.8K
Wage distribution
Demand outlook
Employment of nuclear engineers is projected to grow 1 percent from 2024 to 2034, decline.
Role Profile
Tasks
- 1. Monitor nuclear facility operations to identify any design, construction, or operation practices that violate safety regulations and laws or could jeopardize safe operations. AI use: 0%
- 2. Prepare environmental impact statements, reports, or presentations for regulatory or other agencies. AI use: 0%
- 3. Prepare technical reports of findings or recommendations, based on synthesized analyses of test results. AI use: 0%
- 4. Design or develop nuclear equipment, such as reactor cores, radiation shielding, or associated instrumentation or control mechanisms. AI use: 0%
- 5. Initiate corrective actions or order plant shutdowns in emergency situations. AI use: 0%
- 6. Develop or contribute to the development of plans to remediate or restore environments affected by nuclear radiation, such as waste disposal sites. AI use: 0%
Technologies
Requirements
Work context
Worker profile
Median age 41.3 · 525K employed
Under 25: 9% · 25–54: 70% · 55+: 21%
Related
No direct US role match is available yet for this occupation.
Source coverage
11/11 source families · O*NET 30.2 / OEWS 2024 / ORS 2025 / OOH 2025-08-28 / Projections 2024-34 / CPS 2025 / Anthropic task penetration
Mapping quality
title_match · employment series present
Narrative & sources
Nuclear engineers research and develop projects or address problems concerning the release, control, and use of nuclear energy and nuclear waste disposal.
Nuclear engineers typically work in office settings, but it may vary by employer. Most nuclear engineers work full time.
Nuclear engineers typically need at least a bachelor’s degree in nuclear engineering or a related field. They typically do not need a license to enter the occupation.
The median annual wage for nuclear engineers was $127,520 in May 2024.
Employment of nuclear engineers is projected to grow 1 percent from 2024 to 2034, decline.
Published limitations
This page shows the local country layer, not realised individual job outcomes. The global structural baseline is shared across countries; only the local demand and wage layer changes here.
Built from O*NET occupation descriptions, task statements, technology skills, work context, Job Zones, Anthropic task penetration, BLS OEWS wages, BLS projection tables, BLS ORS requirements, BLS OOH narrative content, BLS skills data, and BLS CPS occupation age tables.