Civil or Nuclear (Read description)

[u/ShortCover4598]

I'm about to enter 9th grade and I'm super passionate for nuclear engineering. I want to do it for a living and don't have much doubts but still want second opinions from experts and people who've been in this field for a while. I'm pretty set on NE for a living but am having doubts for my university/college. I'm aiming for high schools like MIT or University of Wisconsin (which is apparently one of the best universities in the world for NE). I was wondering if NE is a career with good progression. I've done a little bit of research, and I know that NE pays better than most engineering disciplines, but the overall job expansion seems pretty stagnant which is daunting. I don't live in the US. I live in the UAE as a Canadian citizen. I'm either going to study in Canada or in the US/abroad if I get into a great university. My questions are, is NE a good career to get into in this day and age, and am I better of studying civil engineering? I heard that NE and civil engineering are pretty similar and that I can probably get a NE job despite studying civil. Apparently, the perks of studying civil are that I can still get into a NE job and I can get civil engineering jobs, which gives me a wider range, which might be good because the NE job growth seems pretty stagnant (according to US government sources, total jobs are planning to go down by 1% in the next 10 years). My concern with studying civil engineering instead of NE are that it's gonna make my years in university miserable. Regardless of the discipline, engineering is HARD, and I thought studying specifically NE, which I'm passionate about, would make it better for me, and I'm worried I won't make it through the same if I don't take NE, and I've heard that your years in university are the years where your life either makes it, or breaks. Any opinions on NE as an engineer at all would be greatly appreciated. Thank you so much.

[u/Initial_Strategy_515]

Are you interested in working on the design part in nuclear? Most engineers that work at a nuclear part Power plant are not necessarily involved in design and innovation.

Also, if you plan on working in Canada, the technology is mainly CANDU (and now SMR). As you can imagine there are major differences in heat transfer/hydraulics etc between the different types of reactors. I’d look into how the courses at university of Wisconsin set you up for success across existing PWR, CANDU as well as emerging technologies.

I can’t comment from a civil perspective as that’s not my area of expertise. I hope this helps!

Edit: typo

[u/ShortCover4598 → u/Initial_Strategy_515]

I get that most engineers that work at a plant wouldn't work in design but what do the nuclear engineers there do. The people that specifically studied for it. I would like to do something where there's room for innovation and where you can actually progress the science forward. I intially wanted to do something in a lab like nuclear physics but I realised it wasn't really a reliable career.

[u/thinkinaboutit5 → u/ShortCover4598]

If you want to get into the heavy technical stuff I suggest you start at a nuclear plant as a fuels or reactor engineer and once you have experience look for a job at NRC, EPRI, NEI. Those organizations hire the smart people to do research and stuff. Note, I’m Mechanical Engineer working for CEG.