Who hires nuclear engineers?
Great question! Nuclear engineers are hired by utility companies (who operate reactors), reactor vendors (who build and service reactors), the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (which monitors the reactors), consulting firms (who perform specialized tasks for the previously mentioned entities), universities (who train new engineers), the Navy (which designs, builds, and operates nuclear powered submarines and other ships), the national labs – Los Alamos, Oak Ridge, Idaho, Argonne, Berkeley, Pacific Northwest, Sandia (who design next-generation plants, develop space batteries, deal with nuclear weapons, perform basic research…), oil companies (to hunt for oil with their powerful detectors), and various other companies with some interest in the nuclear world.
