Jobs / Science and research / 19-4051.00
Nuclear Technicians
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.
- US jobs
- 6,470
- Median wage
- $110,240 a year
- Job family
- Science and research
Can agents do the work of nuclear technicians?
We read the evidence at the level of the job family, Science and research:
- Task levelPartialThin evidence. CORE-Bench asks agents to reproduce the results of published papers in computer science, social science, and medicine from the authors' code and data. Princeton's HAL team declared it solved in December 2025: Claude Code with Claude Opus 4.5 scored 95.5% after manual regrading. No benchmark in our collection tests new experiments or lab work.
- Project levelNot yetThin evidence. On PaperBench, where agents replicate machine learning papers from scratch, the best official result is 26.0% (o1, April 2025). On a small subset, ML PhDs scored 41.4% against o1's 26.6%. No newer official results exist, and no benchmark tests research projects in other sciences.
Benchmarks for the job family
These cover work in science and research, not always this occupation's tasks.
- 95.5%Claude Code + Claude Opus 4.5 (after manual regrading) · 3 Dec 2025Solved
Typical tasks
From O*NET 31.0. Core tasks first. Few of these tasks have a benchmark today.
- Follow nuclear equipment operational policies and procedures that ensure environmental safety.
- Conduct surveillance testing to determine safety of nuclear equipment.
- Monitor nuclear reactor equipment performance to identify operational inefficiencies, hazards, or needs for maintenance or repair.
- Test plant equipment to ensure it is operating properly.
- Apply safety tags to equipment needing maintenance.
- Follow policies and procedures for radiation workers to ensure personnel safety.
- Modify, devise, or maintain nuclear equipment used in operations.
- Monitor instruments, gauges, or recording devices under direction of nuclear experimenters.
- Perform testing, maintenance, repair, or upgrading of accelerator systems.
- Warn maintenance workers of radiation hazards and direct workers to vacate hazardous areas.
- Calculate equipment operating factors, such as radiation times, dosages, temperatures, gamma intensities, or pressures, using standard formulas and conversion tables.
- Measure the intensity and identify the types of radiation in work areas, equipment, or materials, using radiation detectors or other instruments.
Other job titles for this occupation (35)
Auxiliary Operator · Equipment Operator · Licensed Nuclear Operator · Non-Licensed Nuclear Equipment Operator (NLO) · Non-Licensed Nuclear Plant Operator (NLO) · Nuclear Auxiliary Operator · Nuclear Equipment Operator (NEO) · Nuclear Plant Equipment Operator (NAPEO) · Operations Technician · Systems Operator · Accelerator Operator · Accelerator Technician · Cell Support Operator · Electric Systems Operator · Energy Systems Operator · Equipment Operation Instructor · Facilities Operator · Gamma Facilities Operator · Gamma Operator · Hot-Cell Technician · Non Licensed Operator · Non-Licensed Operator (NLO) · Nuclear Fuel Enrichment Technician · Nuclear Fuel Processing Technician · Nuclear Monitoring Technician · Nuclear Operations Specialist · Nuclear Power Plant Process Control Worker · Nuclear Reactor Technician · Nuclear Station Operator · Nuclear Technician · Operation Specialist · Radiation Protection Technician · Radiochemical Technician · Radioisotope Production Operator · Test and Research Reactor Operator