A Day in the Life of a Nuclear Engineer - Is it really "hot chicks, fast cars, loud music" as everyone believes? ;)

Ever since my introduceyourself made it clear I was a Nuclear Engineer, people have been telling me to do a "day in the Life of". So here it is!

Those who want to know about a typical day in the life of a nuclear engineer find themselves baffled. For starters, it is not the type of career where every day is like the one that came before it. Additionally, nuclear engineering is not a specific field, it is more broad in nature, which can make it difficult to outline one's daily duties to interested parties.

For example, one nuclear engineer could find themselves hunkered down in front of a computer for the vast majority of their day, while another might be asked to serve as a traveling engineer and head to other countries to investigate the feasibility of building a new plant at the chosen location.

I will do my best to provide a day in the life story that will shed light on my routine, but be forewarned, a nuclear engineer does not follow the same routine every day. The schedule changes as needed and different duties require different approaches.

Some engineers are allowed to choose their own schedules and come to work at their chosen time, provided they are able to complete all of their daily duties. An engineer with the ability to make their own schedule tends to opt for a traditional five day work week, with weekends off.

However, if a major project needs to be completed, a nuclear engineer must work on weekends. While this does not happen on a frequent basis, it does bear mentioning. If a project is not going according to plan, then guess what? No more sleeping in. When extra work needs to be done, it is in the best interests of the nuclear engineer to wake up before the sun and get right to work.

On a normal office day, a nuclear engineer gets up and does their typical morning routine before heading into work and sitting down at their desk to check phone calls and e-mails. Nuclear engineers tend to work with a large group and as a result, they may need to attend as many as four to five meeting each day.

Most days involve at least one or two meetings before lunch has taken place. The meetings are held in order to discuss current projects that are taking place and any issues or problems that are keeping them from being completed in a timely manner.

This is where my ability to solve problems comes in handy. These meetings are where we come together as a group to analyze the problem, brainstorm potential solutions and decide on their true feasibility among ourselves. This is why there are so many meetings each day, because there are usually multiple problems that need to be tackled.

While there are definitely more meetings during the afternoon, there is far more to the job than simply brainstorming. When I am not in a meeting, I am in a maintenance room or an office, making sure that everything is running in a manner that is safe and sound.

Uranium and other elements that are used in nuclear engineering are not only dangerous, but they are also toxic and a major aspect of my day is making sure that all of the necessary safety hazards are being adhered to.

We also spend time studying nuclear cores. This is what allows us to get the most possible energy out of the uranium that is used, without going overboard. I also study the neutrons that exist within the energy that is made and learn more about how the energy is being produced.

This is known as fission. Fission takes place when a large uranium atom splits, collides with other atoms and leads to a chain reaction. Knowing how to keep these chain reactions from spiraling out of control is crucial and can cause me to spend anywhere from eight to ten hours inside of a control room.

Control room workers work side by side for a week at a time, before receiving a week off and so on and so forth. Control room workers are also responsible for studying fission rates and learning more about the calculations associated with them.

Nuclear engineers who are not working in a control room or in the middle of meetings are traveling the world and building power plants in a number of different countries. The process of building a power plant takes at least ten years and nuclear engineers who travel draw building designs and are heavily involved with the beginning of the process. It is also important for a nuclear engineer to be fully aware of the safety laws in the country where the plant is being built, so that they can ensure compliance.

Going home at the same time each day is not a luxury that I allow myself to grow accustomed to. While there are some days when I do not have any current projects staring me in the face and I am able to go home whenever I want to, there are other days when I must stay until the work has been completed. This often means burning the midnight oil and staying up long past my typical bedtime.

In summation, a nuclear engineer is responsible for maintaining the safety of a power plant, diagnosing potential problems and their solutions, studying uranium and its functions and coordinating power plant maintenance. A nuclear engineer may spend their day in meetings, they may spend it a control room or they might spend it in a foreign country. No two days are the same for a nuclear engineer, that much is for sure!

Thanks for reading!
Questions are welcome in the comments!