Will AI replace Nuclear Monitoring Technicians?
AI reaches some of this job’s work, but most of it stays with people.
31/100
Moderate exposure
More exposed to AI than 47% of US workers.
- AI already used in
- 0% of the work
- As AI tools mature: up to
- 51% of the work
What the job involves
Collect and test samples to monitor results of nuclear experiments and contamination of humans, facilities, and environment.
Where AI reaches the work
The job’s main tasks, heaviest first, by how far AI reaches them.
Within reach(8)
- Provide initial response to abnormal events or to alarms from radiation monitoring equipment.
- Brief workers on radiation levels in work areas.
- Inform supervisors when individual exposures or area radiation levels approach maximum permissible limits.
- Instruct personnel in radiation safety procedures and demonstrate use of protective clothing and equipment.
- Calculate safe radiation exposure times for personnel using plant contamination readings and prescribed safe levels of radiation.
and 3 more
Out of reach(8)
- Determine intensities and types of radiation in work areas, equipment, or materials, using radiation detectors or other instruments.
- Collect samples of air, water, gases, or solids to determine radioactivity levels of contamination.
- Monitor personnel to determine the amounts and intensities of radiation exposure.
- Analyze samples, such as air or water samples, for contaminants or other elements.
- Place radioactive waste, such as sweepings or broken sample bottles, into containers for shipping or disposal.
and 3 more
Also called
Nuclear Technician · Radiation Monitor · Health Physics Technician (HP Tech) · HP Tech · Nuclear Chemistry Technician · Radiation Control Technician (Radcon Technician) · Radiation Protection Specialist (RP Specialist) · Radiation Protection Technician (RPT)
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What these numbers mean
The score is the share of this job’s work, weighted by how important and frequent each task is, that AI could do in half the time: tasks an AI model could do alone count in full, tasks that need software built on AI count half.
“AI already used” is the share of the work in tasks where people are recorded using AI today. “As AI tools mature” counts every task AI could halve, with or without extra software.
The percentile compares the score with every job’s, weighted by how many people in the US do each one. Exposure means AI could change how the work is done, not that the job goes away. These are estimates for the typical job, not predictions.
Sources
- O*NET 31.0 Database, U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration
- GPTs are GPTs: Labor market impact potential of LLMs (task labels), Eloundou, Manning, Mishkin & Rock (2023), OpenAI and University of Pennsylvania
- Anthropic Economic Index: labor market impacts (task penetration), Anthropic
- Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025 (national and metropolitan areas), U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics