Nuclear enginner / physist maybe (1 Viewer)

[polpe]

When I finished the hsc I didn't know what do with myself, got a job, smoked some cones and good times were had by all.
The big day came, 96.1, pretty good I thought but what should I do with my life. Then while watching the simpsons, It came to me
Nuclear Engineer, nuclear power is the way of the future, it will probly mean employment overseas (which im up for)
and the pay cant be too bad (feel free to tell me otherwise). But how do I get to that point. I'd probly need a masters to make serious money
and i dont mind alot of study. But a masters in what? and firstly Id need a ug degree,l but i checked around and nuclear physics isnt a major for bscience at usyd or unsw, and nuclear enginnerring isnt a decipline taught in australia (at ug level to my knowlegde). so what do I do.
Im down for science adv at sydney and I plan to major in physics, but where do i go from there?
Is that what I should be doing in the first place?

plz help me

edit shoudl I be doing a science degree or an engineering degree first (i stil have a few hours to change

 

[Drongoski]

Don't waste your time being a nuclear engineer or Physicist. No money there. Hard to get a job I suspect.

Do Geology or Mining Engineering or Geophysics or Petroleum Engineering and the like. That's where the money is, and where the jobs are, I think.

PS: why do you leave it so late seeking advice?

 

[polpe]

maybe not in australia but overseas where reactors are plentiful?

 

[Fizzy_Cyst]

Sydney did do a Masters of Applied Nuclear Science, But I think it is being discontinued.

You may have to goto ANU, they havea good Nuclear Science program there.

But yeah, In Australia, very hard to get a job.

 

[polpe]

according to WA nuclear engineers average 100k/year as opposed to the chemical engineers 90k and the civil engineers 80k (all in america),
this makes it more tempting, but Id probly still have to move to america if I wanted serious employment.

 

[Drongoski]

I think you will regret it if you think you can make a decent living as a locally-trained nuclear engineer or physicist. Just my hunch. I hope I'm wrong.

 

[boris]

maybe not in australia but overseas where reactors are plentiful?

this little thing called Fukushima put the future of nuclear power on very rocky ground

germany banned nuclear power etc

not a good field to be getting into imo

photovoltaics, geothermal, turbines etc anything related to that is where we are headed (as much as i loathe to admit) and thats where the innovation and big money will be in the next 30yrs (until we realise it was a retarded pipe dream and nuclear is back in favour but you will be old as fuck by then)

 

[Drongoski]

this little thing called Fukushima put the future of nuclear power on very rocky ground

germany banned nuclear power etc

not a good field to be getting into imo

You've got this right.

Australia's strength is in mining/ oil & gas and agriculture(grain production etc). Australia is finished in manufacturing - just can't compete; barely surviving in steel production (Bluescope Steel & One Steel) even when Australia is a world-class supplier of the key inputs (iron ore, coking coal & thermal coal for energy generation).

Recently I saw the drooling kind of money made by those in the mining industry - some operating the heavy mining equipment make $150k or more a year.

When we are young most of us are not aware of the realities out there. This is only natural. Doing Aeronautical Engineering, for example, sounds glamorous but where are you going to find work as an aeronautical engineer? Australia does not have a supporting industry.

Australia may have pioneered a lot of the work in photovoltaics - but China is the world leader in production of solar panels and U.S. and European manufacturers are struggling to survive.

 

[polpe]

It's quite difficult to get a job overseas in nuclear power - the DOE in the US requires Citizenship for security clearances, and in the UK, you need residency + citizenship. I'm currently working in a nuclear research facility whilst doing my degree, and there are no signs of this slowing down. On the other hand, France, Switzerland and the UK are all closing nuclear reactors over the next 20 years, with few plans to replace them. That said, nuclear engineering programs are actually increasing in enrollments (especially in places like MIT, UMich etc.), and I think Cambridge recently started a new Masters program in Nuclear Engineering. I would recommend a Mech Eng or Physics degree undergrad, then get a masters overseas (this will be costly though).



Also, don't choose a discipline based on the money.

It more has to do with my ambition to work overseas and my belief that nuclear power is the way of the future (fuck greenies, but gw is real). On the money making front maybe it would be easier if I just did chem or civ ngineering, i could stay in sydney and the pay for those industries is not bad and is expected to grow. While those fields are attractive, the only carreer i can picture myself working in is nuclear power. But all this citizenship shit sounds complecated.
what degree and where, which facility are you working at

 

[OzKo]

It more has to do with my ambition to work overseas and my belief that nuclear power is the way of the future (fuck greenies, but gw is real). On the money making front maybe it would be easier if I just did chem or civ ngineering, i could stay in sydney and the pay for those industries is not bad and is expected to grow. While those fields are attractive, the only carreer i can picture myself working in is nuclear power. But all this citizenship shit sounds complecated.
what degree and where, which facility are you working at

Just remember, as it stands, the nuclear industry is shrinking. Nuclear plants take a very long time to build and then decommission (we're talking decades) and this isn't really time well spent. It isn't politically viable at the moment to support nuclear especially after Fukushima. See Angel Merkel announcing that all the nuclear power plants in Germany were to shut down as a response to what happened in Japan. Personally, I thought it was bit of an overreaction, but the signs are there.

I suppose being a nuclear engineer could help make the whole nuclear life cycle more efficient but I don't envisage that happening soon nor does being an engineer really mean you can make it the future of energy.