Will AI replace Nuclear Technicians?
AI reaches some of this job’s work, but most of it stays with people.
26/100
Moderate exposure
More exposed to AI than 43% of US workers.
- AI already used in
- 0% of the work
- As AI tools mature: up to
- 49% of the work
What the job involves
Assist nuclear physicists, nuclear engineers, or other scientists in laboratory, power generation, or electricity production activities. May operate, maintain, or provide quality control for nuclear testing and research equipment. May monitor radiation.
Where AI reaches the work
The job’s main tasks, heaviest first, by how far AI reaches them.
Within reach(8)
- Follow nuclear equipment operational policies and procedures that ensure environmental safety.
- Monitor nuclear reactor equipment performance to identify operational inefficiencies, hazards, or needs for maintenance or repair.
- Follow policies and procedures for radiation workers to ensure personnel safety.
- Monitor instruments, gauges, or recording devices under direction of nuclear experimenters.
- Determine or recommend radioactive decontamination procedures, according to the size and nature of equipment and the degree of contamination.
and 3 more
Out of reach(10)
- Conduct surveillance testing to determine safety of nuclear equipment.
- Test plant equipment to ensure it is operating properly.
- Apply safety tags to equipment needing maintenance.
- Modify, devise, or maintain nuclear equipment used in operations.
- Set up equipment that automatically detects area radiation deviations and test detection equipment to ensure its accuracy.
and 5 more
Also called
Facilities Operator · Nuclear Monitoring Technician · Nuclear Technician · Radiation Protection Technician · Radiochemical Technician · Auxiliary Operator · Equipment Operator · Licensed Nuclear Operator
Related jobs
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