10 Fastest Online Bachelor’s in Nuclear Engineering

If you are inter­est­ed in nuclear ener­gy, then you might also be inter­est­ed in pur­su­ing an accel­er­at­ed degree in Nuclear Engi­neer­ing. There are so many dif­fer­ent advan­tages to doing so. You will be to be part of the pro­fes­sion where elec­tri­cal pow­er and nuclear ener­gy is para­mount in the Unit­ed States. You will have excit­ing oppor­tu­ni­ties to pur­sue a lucra­tive and fun­da­men­tal career path. It will be easy to find work since you are in a spe­cial­ized field. With this degree, you will be pro­fi­cient in phys­i­cal sci­ence, math­e­mat­ics, and engi­neer­ing. For that rea­son, you would be able to pur­sue oth­er relat­ed careers; not only involv­ing nuclear engi­neer, but also nuclear physics and nuclear sci­ence. The edu­ca­tion­al peri­od for com­plet­ing an accel­er­at­ed nuclear engi­neer­ing degree is also short. In fact, you can fin­ish a bachelor’s degree in as lit­tle as two years, giv­ing you the option of going on to a master’s degree more quick­ly, which gives you more job opportunities.

If you were to pur­sue a degree in nuclear physics, it would be longer; cost­ing you more mon­ey as well. How­ev­er, a degree in nuclear engi­neer­ing is less time and with an under­grad­u­ate degree, you can secure a high-pay­ing job. The tuition cost is also less than it would be for a nuclear physi­cist. In addi­tion, there are more col­leges that offer a degree in nuclear engi­neer­ing and so there are more options; espe­cial­ly for the accel­er­at­ed pro­gram. You only need 22 extra under­grad­u­ate cred­its for nuclear engi­neer­ing to meet the accred­i­ta­tion cri­te­ria. This can be accom­plished with an accel­er­at­ed pro­gram. The course­work involves an Intro­duc­tion to the pro­gram to put you at ease of com­plet­ing the rest of the program.

Methodology: Ranking the Best Accelerated Nuclear Engineering Degree

To rank the best accel­er­at­ed nuclear engi­neer­ing degree pro­grams, Bachelor’s Degree Cen­ter edi­tors researched online pro­grams offer­ing a fast-track option. The pro­grams are ranked by their cost, salary poten­tial, and stu­dent sat­is­fac­tion. Only accred­it­ed, rep­utable insti­tu­tions are featured.

1. American Public University

Amer­i­can Pub­lic Uni­ver­si­ty offers a BS in Elec­tri­cal Engi­neer­ing that pro­vides a foun­da­tion in elec­tri­cal engi­neer­ing tech­nolo­gies, ethics, tools, com­pe­ten­cies, prac­tices and the­o­ries. Stu­dents par­tic­i­pate in online class­room dis­cus­sions and hands-on expe­ri­en­tial learn­ing. The cur­ricu­lum cov­ers RF sig­nal and radar recep­tion, trans­mis­sion and prop­a­ga­tion; pas­sive microwave cir­cuit design and analy­sis; elec­tro­mag­net­ic field the­o­ry; ener­gy trans­port and con­ver­sion; con­trol sys­tems; com­mu­ni­ca­tion sys­tems; cir­cuit analy­sis and ana­log cir­cuit design.

Amer­i­can Pub­lic Uni­ver­si­ty offers more than 200 online degrees and cer­tifi­cates. The class­es run 8 or 16 weeks, depend­ing on the pro­gram. The school caters to work­ing adults, with the aver­age stu­dent age being 32. It has small class sizes, with an aver­age of 19 stu­dents per class. The school has con­ferred over 112,000 degrees since 1995 and there are more than 100,000 alum­ni. 83% of its stu­dents have a mil­i­tary background.

What We Like: This pro­gram is 100% online and is bro­ken up into 8‑week courses.

Degree: BS in Elec­tri­cal Engineering

Amer­i­can Pub­lic Uni­ver­si­ty BS in Elec­tri­cal Engineering

2. Arizona State University

Ari­zona State Uni­ver­si­ty offers an online BS in Engi­neer­ing in Elec­tri­cal Engi­neer­ing. This pro­gram pro­vides stu­dents with engi­neer­ing skills, focus­ing on the design of semi­con­duc­tor devices, anten­nas, sig­nal pro­cess­ing algo­rithms, elec­tron­ics, and elec­tric pow­er sys­tems. The pro­gram gives stu­dents the skills and train­ing they need to excel in elec­tri­cal engi­neer­ing. The cur­ricu­lum cov­ers advanced sci­ence and math, the engi­neer­ing design process, ener­gy sys­tems, pho­to­volta­ic cells, hard­ware design, sol­id-state elec­tron­ics, micro­proces­sors, and elec­tro­mag­net­ic fields.

Ari­zona State Uni­ver­si­ty is pow­ered by inno­va­tion and strives to devel­op the next gen­er­a­tion of lead­ers. ASU’s stu­dents and fac­ul­ty work with NASA to lead, advance, and devel­op inno­va­tions in space explo­ration. The school has more than 400 fac­ul­ty mem­bers who have been hon­ored by the Nation­al Acad­e­mies and has an impact of almost $4 bil­lion per year on Ari­zon­a’s econ­o­my. There are more than 500,000 alum­ni around the world.

What We Like: This pro­gram is accred­it­ed by the Engi­neer­ing Accred­i­ta­tion Com­mis­sion of ABET.

Degree: BS in Engi­neer­ing in Elec­tri­cal Engineering

Ari­zona State Uni­ver­si­ty BS in Engi­neer­ing in Elec­tri­cal Engineering

3. Stony Brook University

Stony Brook Uni­ver­si­ty offers an online BS in Elec­tri­cal Engi­neer­ing. Stu­dents must pass a rig­or­ous cur­ricu­lum with grades of C or high­er, start­ing with sev­er­al math, sci­ence, and tech­ni­cal pre­req­ui­sites, includ­ing col­lege cal­cu­lus I, II, and III; gen­er­al physics and/or chem­istry; C++ pro­gram­ming; dig­i­tal log­ic design; and elec­tric cir­cuits analy­sis. The required cours­es for the major include engi­neer­ing design, elec­tron­ics lab, semi­con­duc­tor devices, elec­tro­mag­net­ics, elec­tron­ics, ran­dom sig­nals, engi­neer­ing ethics and soci­etal impact, and sig­nals and systems.

The online BS in Elec­tri­cal Engi­neer­ing is a part­ner­ship between Stony Brook Uni­ver­si­ty, Bing­hamp­ton Uni­ver­si­ty, and the Uni­ver­si­ty at Buf­fa­lo. Stony Brook Uni­ver­si­ty offers over 50 doc­tor­al pro­grams, 100 mas­ter’s pro­grams and 200 under­grad­u­ate pro­grams. The school was estab­lished in 1957.

What We Like: The cur­ricu­lum requires 39 cred­its of pre­req­ui­sites, 44 cred­its in the major, 12 cred­its in tech­ni­cal elec­tives, and 6 cred­its of open elec­tives, as well as gen­er­al edu­ca­tion requirements.

Degree: BS in Elec­tri­cal Engineering

Stony Brook Uni­ver­si­ty BS in Elec­tri­cal Engineering

4. University of West Florida

The Uni­ver­si­ty of West Flori­da offers a BS in Engi­neer­ing Tech­nol­o­gy that empha­sizes the adap­ta­tion, main­te­nance and imple­men­ta­tion of engi­neer­ing tech­nolo­gies. Stu­dents learn how to train users to oper­ate tech­nol­o­gy, sup­port dis­tance learn­ing sys­tems, con­fig­ure and install tech­nol­o­gy sys­tems, upgrade and main­tain tech­nol­o­gy sys­tems, and incor­po­rate tech­nol­o­gy into train­ing and edu­ca­tion process­es. The cap­stone expe­ri­ence is a practicum or intern­ship that pro­vides stu­dents with hands-on train­ing work­ing as part of a team with man­agers and oth­er professionals.

The Uni­ver­si­ty of West Flori­da strives to train the next gen­er­a­tion of thought lead­ers. The school believes that high­er edu­ca­tion has the pow­er to deliv­er change, not just on cam­pus but through­out the com­mu­ni­ty, the state, and even the world. UWF wants to leave the sta­tus quo behind as it finds new and bet­ter ways of doing things.

What We Like: The pro­gram is designed for online deliv­ery but is not avail­able in all states. Out-of-state stu­dents should check first to make sure it is avail­able in their state.

Degree: B.S. in Engi­neer­ing Technology

Uni­ver­si­ty of West Flori­da BS in Engi­neer­ing Technology

5. University of Houston

The Uni­ver­si­ty of Hous­ton offers a BS in Elec­tri­cal Pow­er Engi­neer­ing Tech­nol­o­gy that gives stu­dents a high-qual­i­ty edu­ca­tion that focus­es of appli­ca­tions. Stu­dents learn about elec­tri­cal tech­nol­o­gy and tech­no­log­i­cal equip­ment. The uni­ver­si­ty is con­stant­ly updat­ing the pro­gram’s cours­es to keep pace with the lat­est changes in the indus­try and sup­port the devel­op­ment of com­put­er facil­i­ties and tech­nol­o­gy for all cours­es. Stu­dents gain a strong foun­da­tion in rotat­ing machin­ery, indus­tri­al elec­tron­ics, micro­proces­sor soft­ware and hard­ware, dig­i­tal and ana­log sig­nal con­di­tion­ing, and mea­sure­ment systems.

The Col­lege of Tech­nol­o­gy at the Uni­ver­si­ty of Hous­ton is ded­i­cat­ed to cor­po­rate progress, com­mu­ni­ty enrich­ment, and work­force devel­op­ment. The school works toward these goals by incor­po­rat­ing inno­v­a­tive tech­nolo­gies into aca­d­e­m­ic stud­ies that train stu­dents for a tech­nol­o­gy-focused work­force. The Col­lege of Tech­nol­o­gy is grow­ing quick­ly and offers a vari­ety of aca­d­e­m­ic pro­grams that inspire stu­dents to solve real-world problems.

What We Like: This pro­gram is accred­it­ed by the Engi­neer­ing Tech­nol­o­gy Accred­i­ta­tion Com­mis­sion of ABET.

Degree: BS in Elec­tri­cal Pow­er Engi­neer­ing Technology

Uni­ver­si­ty of Hous­ton BS in Elec­tri­cal Pow­er Engi­neer­ing Technology

6. Grantham University

Grantham Uni­ver­si­ty offers an online BS in Engi­neer­ing Man­age­ment Tech­nol­o­gy that pro­vides stu­dents with the skills and knowl­edge they need to begin work­ing in a tech­no­log­i­cal envi­ron­ment. The cur­ricu­lum includes a tech­nol­o­gy core in pro­gram­ming, dig­i­tal elec­tron­ics and cir­cuit the­o­ry as well as a busi­ness core of man­age­ment, finance, and account­ing. Elec­tive cours­es allow stu­dents to study engi­neer­ing tech­nol­o­gy, com­put­er sci­ence, or busi­ness in more depth. Stu­dents learn how to ana­lyze prob­lems and come up with appro­pri­ate solu­tions as needed.

At Grantham Uni­ver­si­ty, stu­dents take cen­ter stage. The school is focused on help­ing stu­dents suc­ceed by max­i­miz­ing qual­i­ty edu­ca­tion and min­i­miz­ing obsta­cles. The school offers online degree pro­grams that are designed for work­ing pro­fes­sion­als. The school year is bro­ken up into 8‑weekd blocks and the school’s tuition rate is one of the low­est in the US.

What We Like: The busi­ness core con­sists of nine cours­es and the tech­nol­o­gy core has ten courses.

Degree: BS in Engi­neer­ing Man­age­ment Technology

Grantham Uni­ver­si­ty BS in Engi­neer­ing Man­age­ment Technology

7. Jackson College

Jack­son Col­lege offers a BS in Ener­gy Sys­tems that gives stu­dents the man­age­r­i­al, inter­per­son­al and advanced tech­ni­cal skills they need to suc­cess­ful­ly pur­sue a career in the ener­gy indus­try. Stu­dents are trans­formed into effec­tive lead­ers, man­agers and deci­sion-mak­ers. The core require­ments include intro­duc­tion to sus­tain­abil­i­ty, intro­duc­tion to qual­i­ty man­age­ment, basic fab­ri­ca­tion, blue­print read­ing, advanced PLC pro­gram­ming, basic pro­gram­ma­ble con­trollers, intro­duc­tion to elec­tri­cal sys­tems, pow­er grid/smart grid, ener­gy indus­try fun­da­men­tals, and more.

Jack­son Col­lege offers trans­for­ma­tion­al learn­ing oppor­tu­ni­ties that help train stu­dents for suc­cess­ful careers in the work­force or to trans­fer to a uni­ver­si­ty. The school start­ed as a junior col­lege in 1928 and grew rapid­ly in the 1960s. Today, the cam­pus com­pris­es over 500 acres, which includes res­i­dence halls, a library, a cen­ter for health pro­fes­sions and more.

What We Like: This pro­gram requires 120 cred­it hours and a min­i­mum GPA of 2.0. Stu­dents must com­plete at least 30 cred­its at Jack­son College.

Degree: BS in Ener­gy Systems

Jack­son Col­lege BS in Ener­gy Systems

8. Kansas State University

Stu­dents look­ing for an accel­er­at­ed nuclear engi­neer­ing degree may be inter­est­ed in the nuclear engi­neer­ing minor from Kansas State Uni­ver­si­ty Online. This pro­gram gives stu­dents a foun­da­tion in nuclear engi­neer­ing reg­u­la­tions and oper­a­tions, plant con­struc­tion and nuclear pow­er. The accel­er­at­ed nuclear engi­neer­ing degree pro­gram was cre­at­ed for cur­rent engi­neer­ing stu­dents or prac­tic­ing engi­neers. The cur­ricu­lum cov­ers risk assess­ment, reac­tor oper­a­tors, ther­mal hydraulics and radi­a­tion pro­tec­tion and detec­tion. The minor in nuclear engi­neer­ing is offered online and requires 15 cred­it hours.

Kansas State Uni­ver­si­ty has been offer­ing dis­tance edu­ca­tion to its stu­dents for over 50 years. Today, K‑State Online offers over 100 online pro­grams to stu­dents from around the coun­try and all over the world. Hun­dreds of stu­dents grad­u­ate from K‑State Online every semes­ter. KSU was the first land-grant uni­ver­si­ty in the nation to be oper­a­tional and was the sec­ond pub­lic insti­tu­tion in the coun­try to admit men and women equally.

What We Like: The school also offers a mas­ter’s degree in nuclear engineering.

Degree: Nuclear Engi­neer­ing Minor

Kansas State Uni­ver­si­ty Nuclear Engi­neer­ing Minor

9. University of Southern Mississippi

The Uni­ver­si­ty of South­ern Mis­sis­sip­pi offers an online BS in Indus­tri­al Engi­neer­ing Tech­nol­o­gy that gives stu­dents the oppor­tu­ni­ty to qual­i­fy for high-lev­el super­vi­so­ry and plan­ning posi­tions in the work­force. Stu­dents learn about indus­tri­al appli­ca­tions and gain the abil­i­ty to indus­try prob­lems in the indus­try. The accel­er­at­ed nuclear engi­neer­ing degree pro­gram is accred­it­ed by the Engi­neer­ing Tech­nol­o­gy Accred­i­ta­tion Com­mis­sion of ABET. Stu­dents can opt to com­plete an option­al empha­sis in logis­tics. There is a cap­stone project that must be com­plet­ed dur­ing the stu­den­t’s senior year.

Online at South­ern Miss claims to be the most afford­able online col­lege in the US. The school’s great pric­ing pro­vides access to high­er edu­ca­tion for a wider range of stu­dents, enabling stu­dents to focus on study­ing rather than wor­ry­ing about how they will pay for their education.

What We Like: This pro­gram is 100% online, so stu­dents don’t have to leave the com­fort of their own homes to get their degrees.

Degree: BS in Indus­tri­al Engi­neer­ing Technology

Uni­ver­si­ty of South­ern Mis­sis­sip­pi BS in Indus­tri­al Engi­neer­ing Technology

10. Lamar University

Lamar Uni­ver­si­ty offers a BS in Elec­tri­cal Engi­neer­ing that empha­sizes the devel­op­ment and design of tech­nol­o­gy that man­ages and con­trols pho­tons and elec­trons (elec­tric­i­ty and light). Stu­dents in this accel­er­at­ed nuclear engi­neer­ing degree gain the skills and knowl­edge they need to be suc­cess­ful elec­tri­cal engi­neers in man­u­fac­tur­ing, auto­mo­tive, aero­space, elec­tron­ics or telecom­mu­ni­ca­tions. They learn about pow­er dis­tri­b­u­tion and gen­er­a­tion as well as laser tech­nol­o­gy. Grad­u­ates are pre­pared for careers in sig­nal pro­cess­ing, ener­gy and pow­er sys­tems, ana­log elec­tron­ics, elec­tro­mag­net­ics, dig­i­tal sys­tems, bio­elec­tron­ics or auto­mat­ic controls.

Lamar Uni­ver­si­ty has over 15,000 stu­dents and is grow­ing faster than most oth­er schools in Texas. The school has over 100 degree options at the bach­e­lor, mas­ter, and doc­tor­al lev­els. It pro­vides oppor­tu­ni­ties for under­grad­u­ate research and stress­es hands-on, expe­ri­en­tial learning.

What We Like: This is a hybrid pro­gram. Stu­dents com­plete most of their stud­ies online but meet in per­son for deep­er dis­cus­sion of the mate­r­i­al. How­ev­er, stu­dents can also choose a 100% online option.

Degree: BS in Elec­tri­cal Engineering

Lamar Uni­ver­si­ty BS in Elec­tri­cal Engineering

What is a Nuclear Engineering Technology Degree?

Despite being a well-known engi­neer­ing field, many peo­ple are not aware or famil­iar with the pur­pos­es of a nuclear engi­neer­ing tech­nol­o­gy degree or pro­gram, so they won­der what nuclear engi­neer­ing is. Nuclear engi­neer­ing is the sci­ence that main­tains the main objec­tive of manip­u­lat­ing the nucle­us of the atom, which is locat­ed in the cen­tral part. It main­tains a pos­i­tive charge, so it obtains 99.999% of the total mass from the atom. This is struc­tured by pro­tons and neu­trons linked togeth­er through a nuclear bond.

On the oth­er hand, nuclear engi­neer­ing is respon­si­ble for trans­form­ing nuclear ener­gy into elec­tri­cal ener­gy. To add, the engi­neers of this sci­ence can design new tech­no­log­i­cal advances with respect to this issue. Nuclear engi­neers also per­form var­i­ous main­te­nance assign­ments on nuclear plants, mon­i­tor where nuclear ener­gy is pro­tect­ed and manip­u­late it. This engi­neer­ing is con­sid­ered dif­fer­ent from oth­er uni­ver­si­ty careers with respect to the dura­tion since it does not require a long degree pro­gram to obtain the title of nuclear engineer.

What Can I Do with a Degree in Nuclear Engineering Technology?

The areas in which the nuclear engi­neer­ing career places empha­sis is with the abun­dant use of chem­istry since you have to know the atoms togeth­er with their prop­er­ties and reac­tions, so this will be of utmost impor­tance when enter­ing this engi­neer­ing career. On the oth­er hand, nuclear physics is high­light­ed in some way because it is impor­tant to know the prop­er­ties of atom­ic nuclei.

With respect to the sub­ar­eas of this engi­neer­ing degree, you can get nuclear engi­neer­ing tech­nol­o­gy jobs in:

• Nuclear fusion
• Plas­ma physics
• Nuclear med­i­cine
• Radi­ol­o­gy

The job oppor­tu­ni­ties that are pre­sent­ed to the grad­u­ate in nuclear engi­neer­ing are very spe­cif­ic, since they empha­size the man­age­ment, design or super­vi­sion of atoms and oth­er chem­i­cal prop­er­ties. Tak­ing into account the labor field and nuclear engi­neer­ing tech­nol­o­gy degree jobs, the grad­u­ates will have mul­ti­ple job options for dif­fer­ent pur­pos­es, such as the con­trol of the dai­ly open­ing and clo­sure of the plant, super­vi­sion of the machin­ery that han­dle chem­i­cal prop­er­ties, and mon­i­tor­ing of impor­tant rooms in the nuclear plant.

What if I Already Have a Degree?

If you are already a Nuclear Engi­neer, you have so many options; includ­ing chang­ing pro­fes­sion­al field. In fact, you will be able to work freely in the area of med­i­cine, since with­in that spe­cial­ty you will be in charge of han­dling radio­trac­ers or radio­phar­ma­ceu­ti­cals in order to eval­u­ate and know the patien­t’s body, and study­ing the exis­tence of some radi­a­tion. There­fore, the nuclear engi­neer will be able to use nuclear radi­a­tion to adapt it to the med­i­c­i­nal field in order to cre­ate and main­tain the tools used by doc­tors and can even manip­u­late this ener­gy to fight any dis­ease end­ing, such as cancer.

You can get nuclear engi­neer­ing cer­tifi­cate to pur­sue oth­er avenues. It should be not­ed that the nuclear engi­neer has the abil­i­ty to con­trol the preser­va­tion of food and the process­es that car­ry them, improv­ing its qual­i­ty, mak­ing it health­i­er for human con­sump­tion. Anoth­er job oppor­tu­ni­ty that can be pre­sent­ed to the uni­ver­si­ty grad­u­ate in the nuclear engi­neer­ing career is to occu­py a posi­tion in which the state of the envi­ron­ment is pre­served, propos­ing new ideas to pre­vent it from con­tin­u­ing in con­stant dev­as­ta­tion and look­ing for new ones ways to make the nec­es­sary changes that harm it.

With nuclear engi­neer­ing cer­tifi­cate online, the nuclear engi­neer will be able to pur­sue a teach­ing career in order to con­tin­ue expand­ing this branch of sci­ence and pro­vid­ing their knowl­edge to stu­dents who wish to be nuclear engi­neers and be rec­og­nized in the workplace.

Relat­ed Rankings:

25 Best Bach­e­lor’s in Nuclear Engineering

15 Best Online Bach­e­lor’s in Nuclear Engineering

10 Most Afford­able Bach­e­lor’s in Nuclear Engineering

15 Best Online Train­ing and Devel­op­ment Programs

15 Best Engi­neer­ing Man­age­ment Bach­e­lor Degree Online