Career Profile: Nuclear Technicians

Salary and Outlook

According to the US Department of Labor, there are 5,400 people employed as nuclear technicians in the United States. The median annual salary is $99,340. Entry level employees earn approximately $60,490 per year and senior employees earn approximately $126,600 per year.

Estimates do not include other potential benefits such as health insurance, overtime, or retirement benefits that may be offered by employers.

Job Duties

• Measure the intensity and identify the types of radiation in work areas, equipment, or materials, using radiation detectors or other instruments.
• Communicate with accelerator maintenance personnel to ensure readiness of support systems, such as vacuum, water cooling, or radio frequency power sources.
• Set control panel switches to route electric power from sources and direct particle beams through injector units.
• Identify and implement appropriate decontamination procedures, based on equipment and the size, nature, and type of contamination.
• Decontaminate objects by cleaning them using soap or solvents or by abrading using brushes, buffing machines, or sandblasting machines.
• Prepare reports to communicate information such as contamination test results, decontamination results, or decontamination procedures.
• Collect air, water, gas or solid samples for testing to determine radioactivity levels or to ensure appropriate radioactive containment.
• Follow nuclear equipment operational policies and procedures that ensure environmental safety.
• Conduct surveillance testing to determine safety of nuclear equipment.
• Monitor nuclear reactor equipment performance to identify operational inefficiencies, hazards, or needs for maintenance or repair.
• Test plant equipment to ensure it is operating properly.
• Apply safety tags to equipment needing maintenance.
• Follow policies and procedures for radiation workers to ensure personnel safety.
• Modify, devise, or maintain nuclear equipment used in operations.
• Monitor instruments, gauges, or recording devices under direction of nuclear experimenters.
• Perform testing, maintenance, repair, or upgrading of accelerator systems.
• Adjust controls of equipment to control particle beam movement, pulse rates, energy or intensity, or radiation, according to specifications.
• Warn maintenance workers of radiation hazards and direct workers to vacate hazardous areas.
• Calculate equipment operating factors, such as radiation times, dosages, temperatures, gamma intensities, or pressures, using standard formulas and conversion tables.

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