Nuclear Engineering Degrees

Nuclear Engineering degrees prepare students for carreers in nuclear power plants as well as industrial and medical settings.

Nuclear engineers develop and maintain nuclear power plants, nuclear waste recycling methods, or design radiation-resistant equipment and supplies for use in nuclear power environments. These jobs require physics and mechanical engineering knowledge, complex math computer programming abilities and either bachelor's, master's or doctoral degrees to design nuclear power plants, work with their computer and operational equipment, or produce the elements that protect humans and the environment.

Bachelor's Degree Level

Bachelor's degree programs provide two years of foundation courses in physics and chemistry, engineering and advanced math, such as calculus. The remaining two years include classes in reactor theory, design, and shielding and protection, among other specialized classes and lab work. This level is geared toward operations in nuclear engineering settings.

Master's Degree Level

Master's programs are more specialized, geared more toward industrial and medical applications for radiation, with studies in detecting radiation, protective shielding, thermal hydraulics in power plants and nuclear safety. Master's-level classes focus on the design, development and planning of nuclear reactors, and industrial and medical nuclear installations, to produce efficient systems. Safety and ethics are major concerns at this level. A master's thesis must be written before graduation.

Doctoral Degree Level

Doctoral degrees train nuclear engineers for teaching and research professions. Core coursework is completed prior to the candidates' launching into research projects. Majors include management of nuclear waste, as well as radiation safety, fusion systems and bionuclear physics arenas. Health physics, analyzing reactor safety and applied nuclear instrumentation are among the courses offered at this level. A doctoral thesis or dissertation must be written and defended as a condition of graduation.

Univrsity Nuclear Engineering Programs

Campus Explorer lists the top 10 campuses offering Nuclear Engineering degrees as: 1. Purdue University, 2. Penn State University, main campus, 3. University of Wisconsin, Madison, 4. Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, 5. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), 6. University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, 7. Texas A&M, College Station, 8. University of Florida, Gainesville, 9. North Carolina State University, Raleigh, and 10. University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. Between September 2008 and August 2009, these universities conferred a total of 247 bachelor's degrees, 128 master's degrees and 69 doctoral degrees in Nuclear Engineering, according to the Oakridge Institute for Science and Engineering, which also lists 32 academic institutions offering Nuclear Engineering programs in 2009.

Online Degrees

Online Nuclear Engineering Degrees are offered worldwide, with coursework distributed across the Internet. The institutions with online degrees offer only master's and doctoral degrees, to be completed over a five-year time frame. MIT, Penn State and Ohio State are some of the main universities providing online degrees.

References

• Degree Directory: What is Nuclear Engineering?
• Education Portal: Nuclear Engineering Degree Program Information
• Campus Explorer: Nuclear Engineering Colleges
• Online Degree Hub: Online Nuclear Engineering Degrees
• Oakridge Institute for Science and Engineering: Nuclear Engineering Enrollments and Degrees Survey, 2009 Data

Resources

• All Engineering Schools: Nuclear Engineering Degrees and Careers
• MIT Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering Nuclear Engineering
• State University: Nuclear Engineer Job Description