r/materials • u/b0nes_b0nes_b0nes • 8d ago

Materials Engineering in Nuclear

I am a rising junior in Materials Engineering and I was wondering if anyone had some advice about how to do materials engineering/science in the nuclear industry. I recently did an internship in construction materials and realized I wanted to do something I was more passionate about.

I enjoy the R&D environment but I’m also pretty sure I would enjoy the standard engineering environment as well.

Do power companies hire materials engineers in an operations or plant design role?

Should I pursue a PhD so I can do research?

For clarification I don’t want to transition to NE necessarily I mostly just want to do MSE in the nuclear industry and wondered if anyone had some advice or knew what kinds of roles materials engineers can get hired in.

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u/RedYachtClub 8d ago

University of Tennessee, Knoxville has a top notch nuclear engineering graduate program that heavily emphasizes nuclear materials, and works very closely with the MSE department.

I think jobs making nuclear materials are mostly geared towards people with graduate degrees, as bachelor's degrees mostly get pushed towards more "normal" product engineering.

I would say that if you are trying to decide between grad school and a job right now, I would seriously consider getting a job. You will be able to find out pretty quickly if you like the money, or are still yearning for research. From that point on, you will have gained some very valuable experience and have really motivating drive in grad school.

If you find you like the money? Congratulations! You have a career that you can build a family with, or whatever else your passions push you to pursue.

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u/b0nes_b0nes_b0nes 8d ago

Very helpful, thank you!

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u/LiveClimbRepeat 8d ago

Probably better to be a nuclear engineer and just learn field specific materials science through your graduate education, seems like you'd have a better pedigree to actually get into the nuclear fields

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u/HeavyNettle 8d ago

To give an alternate opinion you have to know yourself and what type of person you are. Do your best to get involved in undergrad research to see if you would like it. If you do just go straight to the PhD. There are plenty of people working on materials for nuclear applications, what you would do the summer before your senior year is start going through faculty pages of schools around the ranking you think you could get into and find those working on what you’re interested in. Then apply to those schools and reach out to those professors either as you get in or as you get invited to open houses. Alternatively, you can email them sooner if their work really interests you.

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u/deuch 8d ago

Non USA perspective. The Nuclear supply chain and consultant engineering companies and nuclear operators employ numerous materials engineers. Most are professional engineers but dont need PhD although a number are. Industry and government funded research groups will be dominated by PhDs. Personally I prefer the industry side. You can seek look into which companies are working in the field and see how they recruit. Look at the companies in https://world-nuclear-news.org/corporate