Nuclear Engineer: what the job is, what it pays, and how to get hired.
The work, the skills that matter, the tools in demand and the pay range, from U.S. government data, plus every TryHired page for the role.
10% of nuclear engineers earn less than this amount.
- Annual
- $92,960
- Hourly
- n/a
- Source
- BLS May 2025
25% of nuclear engineers earn less than this amount.
- Annual
- $108,690
- Hourly
- n/a
- Source
- BLS May 2025
Half of nuclear engineers earn more than this and half earn less.
- Annual
- $133,970
- Hourly
- $64.41
- Source
- BLS May 2025
75% of nuclear engineers earn less than this amount.
- Annual
- $163,630
- Hourly
- n/a
- Source
- BLS May 2025
90% of nuclear engineers earn less than this amount.
- Annual
- $196,290
- Hourly
- n/a
- Source
- BLS May 2025
Nuclear Engineers 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. The median pay is $133,970 a year ($64.41 an hour) (BLS, May 2025). The most commonly reported education requirement is a bachelor's degree (81% of workers surveyed by O*NET).
- Median pay
- $133,970
- BLS May 2025
- Employed in the U.S.
- 15,280
- BLS May 2025
- Preparation
- Job Zone 4 of 5
- considerable preparation
- Most common education
- Bachelor's Degree
- 81% of workers
Every page for Nuclear Engineers
What nuclear engineers do day to day
Data Core tasks rated most important by workers in the role (O*NET).
- Design or develop nuclear equipment, such as reactor cores, radiation shielding, or associated instrumentation or control mechanisms.
- Monitor nuclear facility operations to identify any design, construction, or operation practices that violate safety regulations and laws or could jeopardize safe operations.
- Initiate corrective actions or order plant shutdowns in emergency situations.
- Examine accidents to obtain data for use in design of preventive measures.
- Direct operating or maintenance activities of nuclear power plants to ensure efficiency and conformity to safety standards.
- Design or oversee construction or operation of nuclear reactors, power plants, or nuclear fuels reprocessing and reclamation systems.
- Direct environmental compliance activities associated with nuclear plant operations or maintenance.
- Write operational instructions to be used in nuclear plant operation or nuclear fuel or waste handling and disposal.
Ranked by importance to the job
Data O*NET importance ratings. The first three are core.
Knowledge areas: Engineering and Technology, Physics, Mathematics, English Language, Public Safety and Security, Chemistry.
Software nuclear engineers use
Data Examples reported for the role; employer demand flags from O*NET.
- ANSYS simulation softwareAnalytical or scientific softwareIn demand
- SASAnalytical or scientific softwareHot technology
- The MathWorks MATLABAnalytical or scientific softwareHot technology
- ANISN dose assessment computer codeAnalytical or scientific software
- BERMUDA nuclear transport computer codesAnalytical or scientific software
- Discrete ordinates DORT dose assessment computer codesAnalytical or scientific software
- Graphics softwareGraphics or photo imaging software
- MCNP dose assessment computer codeAnalytical or scientific software
- MERCURE dose assessment computer codesAnalytical or scientific software
- MORSE-CG dose assessment computer codeAnalytical or scientific software
- Maplesoft MapleAnalytical or scientific software
- Mathematical simulation softwareAnalytical or scientific software
Also called: Engineer, Nuclear Design Engineer, Nuclear Licensing Engineer, Nuclear Process Engineer, Nuclear Reactor Engineer.
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How this page is built
Tasks, skills, tools, education and related roles come from O*NET 31.0. Pay and employment come from the BLS OEWS May 2025 national estimates. The skill-match score is our calculation: Skill match is the correlation between the two occupations' skill profiles: for each of 35 O*NET skills (10 essential, 25 transferable) we multiply importance by level, subtract the average across all occupations, and correlate the two profiles. 100 means identical shape; 0 or below means unrelated. Only occupations that O*NET itself lists as related are compared.
- How a specific employer defines the job.
- Pay for self-employed workers (OEWS covers employees).
- Your own chances: data describes the occupation, not you.
- O*NET 31.0 Database, U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA), used under the CC BY 4.0 license. TryHired selected, ranked and combined the data; O*NET is not responsible for these pages.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025 estimates (public domain).