AI exposure: 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.
Reading this score
computedAt 14.6% of weighted task load, Nuclear Technicians sits at the 23th percentile, below the point where a job's centre of gravity has moved. 64.8% of what this role does is untouched, meaning current systems cannot produce that work at all, whatever the commercial incentive.
What holds the line here is embodiment. Across this occupation's 18 tasks it averages 2.33 out of 3, the highest of the five friction dimensions. In plain terms, the work has to happen in physical space. A language model cannot move matter. Until the robotics to do this work is both good enough and cheap enough to deploy widely, capability in software does not reach it.
The most exposed thing this job does is Identify and implement appropriate decontamination procedures, based on equipment and the size,..., at 73.3%. The least is Set up equipment that automatically detects area radiation deviations and test detection..., at 0.0%. A gap of 73.3% between two parts of the same job is the reason this index publishes at task level. An occupation-wide number would have hidden both.
Within life, physical and social science occupations, this one is less exposed than the median of 36.3% across the group's 60 roles, with 59 scoring higher. Being in an exposed family does not make a particular job exposed, and the reverse holds too.
What would move this score. Of 18 tasks, 2 are currently banded exposed, 6 assisted and 10 untouched. For that distribution to shift materially would take robotics cheap and reliable enough to deploy at scale, not a better language model. The score is re-computed every quarter against a fresh capability reference, and the change is published rather than quietly applied.
Where the score comes from
judgedEvery task is scored through the standardised work activities it maps to. These are this occupation’s averages on the six rubric dimensions. Capability is what AI can do; the other five are what stands in the way.
| Dimension | Mean | Scale |
|---|---|---|
| Capability | 1.33 | 0-4 |
| Embodiment | 2.33 | 0-3 |
| Presence | 1.22 | 0-3 |
| Accountability | 1.33 | 0-3 |
| Context | 1.61 | 0-3 |
| Verification cost | 1.83 | 0-3 |
Task by task
18 tasks, O*NET 31.0| Task | Exposed | Assisted | Untouched | Importance | Band |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Identify and implement appropriate decontamination procedures, based on equipment and the size, nature, and type of contamination. | 73.3% | 26.7% | 0.0% | 3.75 | exposed |
| Warn maintenance workers of radiation hazards and direct workers to vacate hazardous areas. | 35.0% | 40.0% | 25.0% | 4.06 | assisted |
| Communicate with accelerator maintenance personnel to ensure readiness of support systems, such as vacuum, water cooling, or radio frequency power sources. | 26.7% | 23.3% | 50.0% | 3.93 | exposed |
| Follow nuclear equipment operational policies and procedures that ensure environmental safety. | 16.7% | 33.3% | 50.0% | 4.80 | assisted |
| Monitor nuclear reactor equipment performance to identify operational inefficiencies, hazards, or needs for maintenance or repair. | 16.7% | 33.3% | 50.0% | 4.73 | assisted |
| Follow policies and procedures for radiation workers to ensure personnel safety. | 16.7% | 33.3% | 50.0% | 4.58 | assisted |
| Monitor instruments, gauges, or recording devices under direction of nuclear experimenters. | 16.7% | 33.3% | 50.0% | 4.58 | assisted |
| Test plant equipment to ensure it is operating properly. | 15.0% | 10.0% | 75.0% | 4.63 | untouched |
| Perform testing, maintenance, repair, or upgrading of accelerator systems. | 13.3% | 11.7% | 75.0% | 4.30 | untouched |
| Determine or recommend radioactive decontamination procedures, according to the size and nature of equipment and the degree of contamination. | 13.3% | 36.7% | 50.0% | – | assisted |
| Collect air, water, gas or solid samples for testing to determine radioactivity levels or to ensure appropriate radioactive containment. | 11.7% | 13.3% | 75.0% | 3.51 | untouched |
| Modify, devise, or maintain nuclear equipment used in operations. | 10.0% | 15.0% | 75.0% | 4.39 | untouched |
| Conduct surveillance testing to determine safety of nuclear equipment. | 5.0% | 20.0% | 75.0% | 4.75 | untouched |
| Apply safety tags to equipment needing maintenance. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.62 | untouched |
| Calculate equipment operating factors, such as radiation times, dosages, temperatures, gamma intensities, or pressures, using standard formulas and conversion tables. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.01 | untouched |
| Measure the intensity and identify the types of radiation in work areas, equipment, or materials, using radiation detectors or other instruments. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 3.99 | untouched |
| Decontaminate objects by cleaning them using soap or solvents or by abrading using brushes, buffing machines, or sandblasting machines. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 3.71 | untouched |
| Set up equipment that automatically detects area radiation deviations and test detection equipment to ensure its accuracy. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | – | untouched |
Task text and importance ratings sourced from O*NET 31.0. Shares computed. The occupation score is the importance-weighted mean. 2 task(s) lacked a usable O*NET weight and are shown but excluded from the weighting.
Occupations either side of this one
The four closest scores in the same occupational family, then the four closest anywhere in the index.
Read this carefully. Exposure is not displacement. A high score means current AI systems can produce this work, not that anyone will stop paying a person to do it. Adoption depends on economics, regulation and inertia that this index deliberately does not model. How the score is built.
What this means in practice
Most of this work is not reachable by current systems, so the immediate pressure is on the administrative edges of the role rather than its core: the scheduling, the reporting, the written records. That is where time is recovered.