Glossary
Nuclear Engineer Terms & Vocabulary
15 essential nuclear engineer terms with plain-English definitions: the vocabulary you’ll hear in training and on day one.
Key nuclear engineer vocabulary
These 15 terms come up constantly in nuclear engineer training, on the job and in interviews. Knowing them helps you follow instructions, document accurately and sound prepared.
- ABET
- Engineering program accreditor.
- ALARA
- As low as reasonably achievable.
- CAD
- Computer-aided design.
- Control rod
- Absorbs neutrons.
- Coolant
- Removes heat.
- Criticality
- Sustained chain reaction.
- Dose
- Radiation received.
- FE exam
- Fundamentals of Engineering exam.
- Fission
- Splitting atoms.
- NRC
- Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
- PE license
- Professional Engineer license.
- Refueling outage
- Planned fuel change.
- Shielding
- Blocks radiation.
- SMR
- Small modular reactor.
- Specification
- Detailed requirements.
Practice these terms
Test yourself with the free Nuclear Engineer practice test: it includes vocabulary questions built from this list. For a complete course, see Nuclear Engineer training.
Browse terms from every career in our career glossary.