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AI Automation Index
Will AI Replace Nuclear Engineers?
Task-level automation exposure for Nuclear Engineers: 20 O*NET tasks scored against their work activities, plus the simulator.
E-E-A-T Verified
Developed & audited by Gini Loh Automation Exposure
54%
weighted task index
20 of 20 tasks scored
Median Salary
$133,970 / year
BLS OEWS, May 2025 — this exact occupation
Employment Level
Low
15,280 people hold this job — size, not growth
Projected 2025–35
+0.4%
employment change
800 openings a year · BLS line item
Pay by state
BLS OEWS publishes 19 state estimates for this occupation. Each is its own survey estimate, not the national median adjusted for local prices.
$123,780 – $195,190
Highest medians
District of Columbia $195,190
California $172,400
New Mexico $164,300
Maryland $157,960
Massachusetts $145,760
Lowest medians
Maine $123,780
South Carolina $126,570
Texas $128,340
Virginia $128,890
Washington $129,480
State figures come from the 17-2161 row in the May 2025 state panel. States where the estimate was suppressed or too small to publish are absent.
What the score is made of
Each task is mapped to its work activities, scored for AI automation potential, and weighted by how important those activities are to the job. These are the components.
Automation potential 54%
Importance-weighted mean of the scored tasks. This is the headline index.
Physical work 0%
Share of weighted tasks in hands-on or machine-operating work activities.
Judgment & influence 36%
Share in analysis, decisions, teaching, directing, advising, or caring for others.
Routine administration 16%
Share in documenting, recording, and administrative activities.
Rewritten by O*NET 5%
Share of weighted tasks O*NET rewrote in a recent update. Reported, not folded into the score.
Consequence of error 40/100
Moderate
O*NET's own rating of how serious an uncorrectable mistake would be here — respondents, not us. Deliberately not in the index: the score measures what AI can do with the task content, and multiplying it by stakes would be our judgment dressed as data.
Constituent Task Mix
20 tasks for this occupation, weighted by work-activity importance. Shares below are of total task weight, not task count.
High exposure (≥ 60% of the task is automatable) 35%
7 tasks
Medium exposure (≥ 35%) 49%
10 tasks
Low exposure (below 35%) 16%
3 tasks
How would you survive?
Move your week away from the high-exposure tasks and toward the ones that need judgment. The simulator recalculates the index as you shift the mix.
Simulate Upskilling →Emerging & rewritten tasks
Tasks O*NET added or rewrote for this occupation in its recent updates (05/2025 – 08/2026), with who proposed them. Additions are not in the scored task inventory — they are new work O*NET is still measuring, so they appear here and nowhere in the index. A Revision replaces a task that is scored, which is why only those move the "Rewritten by O*NET" share.
- Revision 08/2024 · Occupational Expert
Recommend preventive measures to be taken in handling nuclear technology based on data obtained from operations monitoring, systematic analysis, or evaluation of test results.
Replaced: Recommend preventive measures to be taken in the handling of nuclear technology, based on data obtained from operations monitoring or from evaluation of test results.
Constituent Tasks
#5384 · Core · 45% automatable
Design or develop nuclear equipment, such as reactor cores, radiation shielding, or associated instrumentation or control mechanisms.
decision support — AI assists energy system design; engineer accountable
Design energy production or management equipment or systems.
#5380 · Core · 55% automatable
Monitor nuclear facility operations to identify any design, construction, or operation practices that violate safety regulations and laws or could jeopardize safe operations.
decision support — AI flags compliance deviations; human confirms in the world
Monitor processes for compliance with standards.
#5385 · Core · 45% automatable
Initiate corrective actions or order plant shutdowns in emergency situations.
decision support — AI diagnoses; human executes operational fixes
Resolve operational performance problems.
#5379 · Core · 35% automatable
Examine accidents to obtain data for use in design of preventive measures.
physical manipulation — Workplace safety inspection is on-site human
Investigate safety of work environment.
#5389 · Core · 29% automatable
Direct operating or maintenance activities of nuclear power plants to ensure efficiency and conformity to safety standards.
physical manipulation — Directing repair activities involves hands-on equipment work
Direct equipment maintenance or repair activities. Direct energy production or management activities.
#5383 · Core · 28% automatable
Design or oversee construction or operation of nuclear reactors, power plants, or nuclear fuels reprocessing and reclamation systems.
decision support — Energy operations direction needs real-time human control
Direct energy production or management activities.
#19642 · Core · 62% automatable
Direct environmental compliance activities associated with nuclear plant operations or maintenance.
decision support — Compliance coordination needs human accountability and site action
Coordinate safety or regulatory compliance activities.
#5387 · Core · 78% automatable
Write operational instructions to be used in nuclear plant operation or nuclear fuel or waste handling and disposal.
text generation — Draft procedural documents from provided content
Prepare procedural documents.
#20956 · Core · 77% automatable
Prepare technical reports of findings or recommendations, based on synthesized analyses of test results.
text generation — Document test results from provided data
Analyze test or validation data. Document design or operational test results.
#19643 · Core · 75% automatable
Prepare environmental impact statements, reports, or presentations for regulatory or other agencies.
text generation — Operational reports drafted from data
Prepare technical or operational reports.
#19641 · Core · 72% automatable
Develop or contribute to the development of plans to remediate or restore environments affected by nuclear radiation, such as waste disposal sites.
text generation — Detailed work plans drafted from specifications
Prepare detailed work plans.
#5388 · Core · 30% automatable
Conduct tests of nuclear fuel behavior and cycles or performance of nuclear machinery and equipment to optimize performance of existing plants.
data analysis — AI interprets results; human runs physical tests
Test performance of electrical, electronic, mechanical, or integrated systems or equipment.
#19640 · Core · 52% automatable
Design fuel cycle models or processes to reduce the quantity of radioactive waste generated from nuclear activities.
text generation — Process methods drafted; materials validation human
Develop operational methods or processes that use green materials or emphasize sustainability.
#20958 · Core · 55% automatable
Consult with other scientists to determine parameters of experimentation or suitability of analytical models.
interpersonal — Conferring with technical staff on plans is relational work
Confer with technical personnel to prepare designs or operational plans.
#5386 · Core · 55% automatable
Revision
Recommend preventive measures to be taken in the handling of nuclear technology, based on data obtained from operations monitoring or from evaluation of test results.
decision support — General safety advice; accountability and context human
Advise others on health and safety issues.
#20959 · Core · 62% automatable
Discuss construction project proposals with interested parties, such as vendors, contractors, or nuclear facility review boards.
text generation — Technical communication drafting well-supported
Communicate technical information to suppliers, contractors, or regulatory agencies.
#5382 · Core · 45% automatable
Perform experiments that will provide information about acceptable methods of nuclear material usage, nuclear fuel reclamation, or waste disposal.
data analysis — Energy modeling aided; field measurement human
Research energy production, use, or conservation.
#19639 · Core · 55% automatable
Conduct environmental studies on topics such as nuclear power generation, nuclear waste disposal, or nuclear weapon deployment.
data analysis — Impact assessment aided; site-specific data human
Investigate the environmental impact of projects.
#20957 · Core · 45% automatable
Design or direct nuclear research projects to develop, test, modify, or discover new uses for theoretical models.
data analysis — Energy modeling aided; field measurement human
Research energy production, use, or conservation.
#5381 · Core · 80% automatable
Keep abreast of developments and changes in the nuclear field by reading technical journals or by independent study and research.
information retrieval — AI tracks technical updates; human validates depth
Update technical knowledge.
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How this was scored
- 1. Tasks. O*NET task statements for this occupation, from a release whose newest record is dated 08/2026.
- 2. Work activities. Each task maps to 1–5 Detailed Work Activities; each activity belongs to one of 41 Generalized Work Activities that O*NET rates for importance (1–5) in this occupation.
- 3. Automation potential. Every work activity carries one score for how far current AI can perform it end-to-end. Tasks inherit the mean of their activities.
- 4. Weighting. Task weight = 0.35 + 0.65 × (importance − 1)/4, scaled by how often the task is performed and by 0.7 for Supplemental tasks. Importance is the task's own O*NET rating where it exists (18,369 of 18,838 tasks); the rest inherit their work activities' importance. The index is the weighted mean.
Check: across the 910 occupations where O*NET also rates how far machine speed sets the pace, this index moves opposite to it (Spearman ρ = -0.49). The more a job is paced by equipment, the less of its task content AI can address — the relationship you would expect if the scoring is working.
Sources · O*NET 31.0 (task records to 08/2026) · BLS OEWS May 2025 · BLS projections 2025-2035 · rubric v2.1 · tasks for O*NET, not a forecast
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