Day-to-day activities / duties and responsibilities
• Monitoring the reactor and the reactions occurring inside
• Looking at ways to safely dispose of radioactive waste
• Design new plants and reactors
• Leading teams of other engineers in the design process
• Analyse energy outputs and safety of reactions
• Ensure British and European safety standards are met
• Traveling between different plants
• Considering and researching environmental impacts so that records can be kept
• Taking part in research on radioactive materials and nuclear processes
• Overseeing the decommissioning old reactor sites.
• Looking at the use of radioactive materials in medicine
• Researching for institution or universities.
Workplace and working hours
If you work in a power plant then you may spend a lot of time on the work floor. You may also spend time in offices and will probably be expected to work shifts. If you work in research you will spend time in labs and at presentations where you may present your findings. Here you would work a 9:00 to 18:00 day, five days a week. You would need to wear protective clothing whenever you come into contact with radioactive materials or old machinery or substances that may have been left radioactive.
Salary
The starting salary in this job is around £23,000 a year in larger companies and this will only increase with experience to values of around £55,000. Smaller companies may offer around £19,000 a year. There is the potential to earn bonuses for things such as meeting targets especially if you are employed by a large company.
Qualifications and entry requirements
Most employers in this field will look for graduates from the following subjects:
Nuclear Engineering
Chemical engineering
Electrical engineering
Mechanical Engineering
Mathematics
Physics
Large companies will look for graduates with at least a 2:1 who will then be enrolled onto their graduate training programs. Post entry graduate qualifications are not needed but may benefit you in the long run.
Skills and personal attributes
1. Planning: You will need to make sure that you know exactly what is required of you and how you will carry out certain tasks. You may need to change the output levels of certain reactors at certain times of the day. This can be dangerous if not done properly.
2. Supervising workers: You may be in charge of groups and lead on certain tasks as the work environment will be a dangerous one you will be responsible for ensuring that all workers act sensibly whilst still being productive.
3. Remaining calm under pressure: The work floor will be a tense place at times and you must be able to still make tough decisions and keep a calm head.
4.
Job likes and benefits
1. High income: As you progress in your job your wage will increase. This will go hand in hand with more responsibility.
2. Job growth: The nuclear sector is looking for more and more graduates as nuclear remain a source of energy.
3. Opportunities in research: You could make the move into research where there is also a high demand for nuclear engineers. You may need to have a little experience first but you will work with others researching the both the negative and positive effects of nuclear materials on the body and their use in medicine.
4.
Job challenges and disadvantages
1. Ethical problems: You may have to answer tough questions and have to promote the use of nuclear technology to people who oppose nonrenewable fuel sources. You may be involved in ‘destroying’ certain sites as once they have been used to store leftover radioactive waste they will be rendered useless for things like food production and living areas.
2. Pressure in deadlines: You may be involved in running a large energy plant that will supply energy to businesses and homes around the country. The energy supply needs to be reliable and continuous as in this day and age electricity is vital for effective communication.
3. Large responsibility: Nuclear material and power plants can be dangerous even when treated with care. There have been many nuclear disasters in recent years. These events caused devastation and have lasting impacts on the people involved and the surrounding areas.
4. Increased research into renewable fuels: Governments are now under more pressure to find ways of producing energy from renewable sources and whilst this area still needs a lot more research you should be wary of new developments in these fields.
Opportunity, career prospects and job progression
The nuclear engineering sector is expanding and as a result of this there are now more jobs on offer. The main areas of growth are currently in decommissioning and research. There are opportunities not only in the uk but all over the world. There are also other sectors such as defence that you can work for but you will usually need to undertake extensive background checks for this.
More information
The Nuclear Institute http://www.nuclearinst.com/