<p>Anyone here interested in Nuclear Engineering?</p>
<p>How are the job outlooks/growth of the Nuclear Engineering department?</p>
<p>I'm just browsing today, I'm a finance major, but I'll say this. My dad is a nuclear engineer and they're all excitedly holding their breath for the lifting of the ban on new nuclear power plants that they hope Bush will lift due to the energy crisis. If the ban is lifted, expect job outlooks to skyrocket.</p>
<p>sounds interesting... do you get to build a-bombs?</p>
<p>Well Nuclear Engineering interests me (France recently built a fusion reactor) but my parents are playing the "you won't have a job" card-- they want me to stick to Petroleum....</p>
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My dad is a nuclear engineer and they're all excitedly holding their breath for the lifting of the ban on new nuclear power plants that they hope Bush will lift due to the energy crisis. If the ban is lifted, expect job outlooks to skyrocket.
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<p>My dad has a PhD in nuclear engineering from Berkeley, and his career hasn't been that great in terms of finding jobs (at least without a lot of moving around), since no new nuclear reactors have been built in the U.S. since the 1970's. The news reports that even if this ban were to be lifted, it would be at least 20-25 years before the first one would be built.</p>
<p>nshah9617, the nuclear reactor you speak of (Iter) was only just approved. it will be many years until it is built and operational, although it will be one of humanity's greatest achievements should it allow us to fully harness fusion. Nuclear engineers get paid a lot, but the job opportunities aren't numerous.</p>
<p>The Nuclear Power Plant Ban has to be lifted soon because we need more power and we can't soley survive on oil and gas plants. Our current nuclear power plants will be at the end of their 30 year life span within the next few years so we have to do something soon and fast.</p>
<p>I would suggest another branch of engineering. The construction of nuclear plants is a highly contentious issue and subject to NIMBY (not in my backyard). I would suggest a double major in mechanical engineering and physics or electrical engineering and physics. </p>
<p>This way, you have a good base but still maintain your interest in physics. Or better still, you can take an engineering physics degree which is not so strictly geared to the nuclear industry but is easily applied to other technical fields and yet is still an engineering degree.</p>
<p>nuclear engineering is difficult to find a job (especially if your not interested in moving abroad). this comes from not only from family and friends (i was told by my friend's mother who works @ exelon nuclear not to pursue this), but even my school. although our school has a 100% job placement history for Nukes, the graduating class is very small (usually less than 60 people), and they stress during freshman lecture that finding a job will most likely working abroad.</p>
<p>Nuclear Engineering does have its benefits of high pay, in demand (less ppl graduate with NE degrees) and so forth. But yes, job placement can be a #%$@!. I'll be major in Nuclear Engineering at Berkeley. However, I'm doing it with a double in Chemical Engineering, because foremost, Chemical Engineers have many job opportunities that don't require moving and they are the highest paid engineering degree on the market. Therefore, if you do want to major in Nuclear Engineering, then by all means go for it. But you need to remember that job placement for Nuke majors are very very low compared to other engineering fields.</p>