Nuclear Engineering.

Being a nuclear engineer is a whole new responsibility for the person who would like to qualify as a nuclear engineer. Nuclear engineers are exposed to how nuclear power works as well as when they design fuel and learn more about how to hold up a role of observing a nuclear power plant (Neep, 2006 1).  Of course, nuclear engineers do not only work with nuclear power plants, but they are also involved with nuclear weapons and the physics of health (Dontigney, 2010 1). Nuclear engineers have more tasks to do like, experimenting with different chemicals to help them advance in nuclear usage. Advancing in nuclear usage will not only help them create new studies, but it will also lead them to other new experiments from the information that they gained during one experiment (Anonymous, 2011 a 3).

Preparing for a job such as being a nuclear engineer takes up a lot of time and dedication. To prepare for an occupation such as nuclear engineering, the person must take classes such as math all the way up to calculus, physics, chemistry and biology, as well as taking classes specifically for nuclear working. People who are planning to become a nuclear engineer will also need to take an engineering class and take some sort of radiation study (Dontigney, 2010 2). In order to be certified as a nuclear engineer the person would also have to take an exam called the Fundamentals of Engineering which takes up at least eight hours of time to take the exam. After taking this exam the person may get a job in another area of engineering for another 4 years before taking another exam to become a nuclear engineer which is called, the Practice of Engineering (Dontigney, 2010 3). Nuclear engineers in training would also have to had to take a design class for learning more about the techniques that are involved in this occupation. Knowledge in machines and tools is also required (Anonymous, 2011 4).  The person who is intrigued into becoming a nuclear engineer would also need to have the ability to recognize when something goes wrong and must pay attention at all times in case something were to go wrong with a nuclear plant or weapon (Anonymous, 2011 5).

Another important act that the person who wants to be a nuclear engineer, is that they have to decide which part of the nuclear engineering field they would like to be in (McClure, 2010 2). Several colleges do offer a study for people who would like to be a nuclear engineer, such as the University of Berkeley. The University of Berkeley actually centers their learning around engineering and this is great for people who actually want to study to become an engineer of any area or study (Newman, 2010 4). The yearly cost of tuition to study to become a nuclear engineer is $5,610 per semester, and that is just tuition alone, it does not involve the cost for health insurance and a campus fee. People can tell that, one year of simply learning more about that profession would cost at least $11,220, which covers all of the mandatory classes the student would need to take to become an official qualified nuclear engineer, if the student decides to study at the University of Berkeley (Anonymous, 2011 c 1).

The salary for nuclear engineers is usually $97,080 and that was simply the average wage that one person would get (Anonymous, 2011 i 1). Now the highest someone would earn as a nuclear engineer would be at least $136,880 a year. The lowest amount of money a nuclear engineer would receive was at least $61,610 a year (Sloan, 2010 5). Those are just approximates and they may also vary simply because nuclear engineers get paid $48.04 for every hour they work (Anonymous, 2011 a 7).

The outlook for nuclear engineers' futures may vary depending on how successful they are throughout their entire journey of engineering. Since there are not as many nuclear engineers, there are very few limited spots open to work as a nuclear engineer (Anonymous , 2011 d 1). Nuclear engineers who work or live in the U.S. have to work with nuclear plants that already exist in their area due to dangerous precautions. This does not mean that they cannot observe and gather more new information about more nuclear plants and what their purpose is. Overall, nuclear engineers who are successful have a great fulfilled future ahead of them with nuclear engineering as their occupation (Anonymous, 2011 d 2).

A fun fact that many people do not know of is that the atomic bomb was the first nuclear project that had been made, it was looked upon by two different view points; as an advancement and as a threat (Stoneham, 2010 5). A few innovations that nuclear engineers deal with are somewhat complicated but there are some where they may easily understand, depending on their level of education. One new innovation is to be more global and be able to deal with all the traveling and stress that comes with the work and health (Evans, 2010 3). Gathering more information about nuclear engineering and being able to learn how to create certain nuclear weapons is also another innovation for nuclear engineers (Lévêque, 2010 1). Another new strategy that nuclear engineers have to learn about is how to produce nuclear energy and what exactly happens to the energy throughout the process (Hiroaki, 2010 3).  Innovation for nuclear engineering has not grown as much in the past 30 years as it had before the 1980's, but one thing that we can advance in, is gathering information from technology (Lévêque, 2010 3). Nuclear engineering should be coming back even stronger than before, now that we have technology, which makes gathering new information a lot easier (Meagher, 2010 1).

As you can see, becoming a nuclear engineer takes a great deal of dedication and time. Nuclear engineers learn more about their surroundings and how to process with nuclear plants as well as creating more nuclear weapons incase of attack. Nuclear engineers in training, have to take math classes and any study of a science throughout their entire tuition in college. The University of Berkeley does give students who want to become a nuclear engineer, a chance to study at their university by only charging them $5,610 dollars per semester. Nuclear engineers average wage they would receive every year would be $97,080. The average outlook for nuclear engineers is somewhat good, simply because there are not many people who would like to study for becoming a nuclear engineer. For those people who do want to be a nuclear engineer, there are only a few spots open and being assigned to one of them is not as easy, because the only time they ever open up a new position in the nuclear field is when someone is fired or retires from their job. If a person is thinking about becoming a nuclear engineer, they must also understand that they would be under a little bit or a lot of pressure depending on the situation with their techniques. They must also understand that nuclear engineers do deal with a lot of innovations and changes throughout their years of working.

Personally, from my perspective, I think that nuclear engineering does have its positives and negatives. The positives are that they are finding out more information about certain nuclear plants that may help us improve as a country to fight off attacks and create nuclear weapons in case someone thinks about starting a nuclear war. Another positive is the amount of money they earn. Like, hey, who does not like money?  Nuclear engineers get paid a ton of money to gather data and observe nuclear plants that we could benefit from. Now there are some positives, but there are also some negatives on becoming a nuclear engineer. The negatives are being at risk to be surrounded by those unknown plants and may or may not getting affected by them, that may or may not be harmful for our bodies. Another negative is the amount of limited spots there are to receive a job in the nuclear field. If I were to take this job for the rest of my life, I honestly would not think about the negatives. I would just think about the amazing possibilities that I would have for my family and myself. I would also think about how lucky I would be to be one of the few people that actually get picked to be a nuclear engineer. The thought about helping out my country against any attack would also influence me to work harder and stay determined to gather more information. This would also influence me to get together with my other companions from the nuclear field and discuss about what advancements we would receive just from a single nuclear plant, as well as our country. The amount of money would also take a huge impact on my decision because I would want to have a good benefit for my family and their education when I grow up, and becoming a nuclear engineer certainly comes with those benefits. Especially when you're talking about college, I would definitely choose to go to the University of Berkeley if I wanted to become a nuclear engineer. I also believe that my family would be extremely proud of me for studying for an occupation like that. As long as I am doing something that I enjoy, I honestly don't mind what the risks are.

Anonymous, 2011. "Nuclear Engineering Jobs"
http://www.nuclearengineeringjobs.net/

Anonymous, 2011 a. "Nuclear Engineers"
http://www.whatcareerisrightforme.com/career.php?id=65&career=Nuclear%20Engineers

Anonymous, 2011 c. "Registration Fees"
http://registrar.berkeley.edu/feesched.html#info

Anonymous, 2011 d. "Nuclear Engineer Job Outlook"
http://www.allthingspolitical.org/careers/Nuclear_Engineer_job_outlook.htm

Anonymous, 2011 i. "Nuclear Engineering Careers, Jobs and Career Information"
http://www.careeroverview.com/nuclear-engineering-careers.html

Dontigney, 2010. "Education Needed To Become A Nuclear Engineer"
http://www.ehow.com/info_7758858_education-needed-become-nuclear-engineer.html#ixzz1cz4inEkp

Evans, 2010. "What Does The Field of Engineering Encompass As A Whole"
http://www.ehow.com/facts_7531758_field-engineering-encompass-whole.html

Hiroaki, 2010. "The Truth About Nuclear Engineering"
http://japanfocus.org/-Koide-Hiroaki/3582

Lévêque, 2010. "Innovation Trends in Nuclear Power Generation"
http://www.energypolicyblog.com/2010/05/09/innovation-trends-in-nuclear-power-generation/

McClure, 2010. "How to Specialize in Nuclear Engineering"
http://www.ehow.com/how_6859223_specialize-nuclear-engineering.html

Meagher, 2010. "Rethinking Nuclear Power"
http://innovations.coe.berkeley.edu/vol4-issue3-apr10/rethinking-nuclear

Neep, 2006. "Nuclear Engineering"
http://studentservices.engr.wisc.edu/advising/degrees/ne.html

Newman, 2010. "Top Undergrad Engineering Universities"
http://www.ehow.com/list_6567320_top-undergrad-engineering-universities.html

Sloan, 2010. "Careers in Science, Technology, Engineering, Math and Medicine"
http://www.careercornerstone.org/nuclear/nuclear.htm

Stoneham, 2010. "Nuclear Fission: The Interplay of Science and Technology"
http://rsta.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/368/1923/3295.full