The nuclear industry faces strong headwinds. Indeed, Three Mile Island is slated to shut down this year. Nonetheless, plenty of students at Penn State and across the country are showing an interest in nuclear engineering. Penn State University is doubling down on nuclear energy. A generous gift is spurring a major expansion of the nuclear engineering program, Penn State University Eric Barron said. (The university said the donors don’t want the size of the gift disclosed.) “So many programs have collapsed across the country,” Barron said. “You have a few strong programs left, of which Penn State is one.” Penn State is looking to nearly double the number of faculty in nuclear engineering from 8 to 15. Nuclear engineering, currently joined with the mechanical engineering program, will become its own department next fall. “Students are very interested in the field,” said Dr. Arthur Motta, chairman of the nuclear engineering program at Penn State. “And they’re also getting jobs.”
To be sure, the number of students pursuing nuclear engineering degrees nationwide remains below its peak in the late 1970s. Interest plunged after the Three Mile Island
incident in 1979. In 1978, 863 students graduated with bachelor degrees in nuclear engineering, according to data compiled by the Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education. By 2001, that number fell to 120. But over the last several years, more students are enrolling in nuclear engineering programs. In 2016, the most recent year data is available, 621 bachelors degrees were awarded in nuclear engineering, according to Oak Ridge. Penn State, by the way, led the nation in 2016 with 90.
Motta said more jobs are opening up as many nuclear engineers are nearing retirement.
“A lot of people in the nuclear community are like me,” Motta said. “I’m in the latter part of my career.” Nuclear engineering jobs offer good salaries. The median salary of a nuclear engineer in 2017 topped $105,000, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Motta said Penn State’s expansion of the department is well-timed. “We have much more research going into nuclear now than 20 years ago,” he said. “I think it’s a good time to make an investment and improve the experience of our students and provide them with the education they need.”
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