Critical industries · NCES IPEDS, 2015–2022
Nuclear
Reactor physics, fuel cycle and radiological engineering.
32.8%
of research doctorates in this field go to non-residents
+5.8 points against the 27.0% national figure
1,318
doctorates awarded in the window
432 of them to non-residents
28
institutions award this doctorate at all
the whole national capacity
29.4%
the share in 2025, the most recent year published
federal access rules apply to some of this work; see the note below
Access authorisation
Two different regimes, often confused. Unescorted access to a commercial reactor requires NRC access authorisation under 10 CFR 73.56 — a background investigation and fitness-for-duty determination, not a security clearance, and not restricted by citizenship on its face. DOE work on weapons-adjacent programmes requires an L or Q access authorisation under 10 CFR 710, which IS a clearance and does require US citizenship. Most civil nuclear engineering falls under the first, not the second.
The American share, by award level
The same field at three levels, in 2025. The subject does not change. Only the level does.
| Level | Awarded to Americans | Share American | Awarded to non-residents | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bachelor's | 430 | 97.1% | 13 | 443 |
| Master's | 261 | 86.7% | 40 | 301 |
| Doctorate | 108 | 70.6% | 45 | 153 |
Americans take 97.1% of the 443 bachelor’s degrees in this field and 86.7% of the 301 master’s degrees. The American share falls 10.4 points between the two, a smaller gap than most fields on this site show. See the master’s expansion for the same comparison across every field. A row resting on a few dozen awards moves on one student, so read the small ones with the award count beside them.
The programmes behind the number
Every CIP code this page counts, and what each contributes. Disagree with the mapping and you can see exactly which rows to drop.
| Programme | Non-resident share | Doctorates | Non-residents |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nuclear Engineering CIP 14.2301 | 32.8% | 1,318 | 432 |
Where it is taught
The institutions awarding these doctorates, largest first. Ten or more over the window.
| Institution | Non-resident share | Doctorates | Non-residents |
|---|---|---|---|
| University of Michigan-Ann Arbor | 25.0% | 148 | 37 |
| Massachusetts Institute of Technology | 49.2% | 122 | 60 |
| Texas A&M University-College Station | 36.1% | 119 | 43 |
| The University of Tennessee-Knoxville | 12.6% | 111 | 14 |
| North Carolina State University at Raleigh | 45.7% | 94 | 43 |
| University of California-Berkeley | 19.6% | 92 | 18 |
| University of Wisconsin-Madison | 17.1% | 76 | 13 |
| University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign | 59.7% | 72 | 43 |
| Georgia Institute of Technology-Main Campus | 8.3% | 60 | 5 |
| Purdue University-Main Campus | 58.5% | 41 | 24 |
| Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute | 35.0% | 40 | 14 |
| Ohio State University-Main Campus | 45.9% | 37 | 17 |
| Oregon State University | 21.6% | 37 | 8 |
| Missouri University of Science and Technology | 72.2% | 36 | 26 |
| University of Florida | 25.7% | 35 | 9 |
| University of Missouri-Columbia | 30.3% | 33 | 10 |
| Pennsylvania State University-Main Campus | 36.7% | 30 | 11 |
| Air Force Institute of Technology-Graduate School of Engineering & Management | 0.0% | 28 | 0 |
| Idaho State University | 40.0% | 20 | 8 |
| Kansas State University | 40.0% | 20 | 8 |
| Colorado School of Mines | 26.7% | 15 | 4 |
| University of Utah | 21.4% | 14 | 3 |
The share since 1995
Non-resident share of the doctorates awarded each year, against the national figure for all fields.
The line runs the full published history. The headline 32.8% above is pooled over 2015–2022. That is the window this site uses everywhere. The two figures answer different questions and will not match. Years with fewer than 20 doctorates nationally are omitted: a share computed on a dozen degrees moves on one student.
Method and limits
- A CIP code is a field of study. Nobody in this data is observed working in the industry it is matched to.
- The battery entry is a proxy built from materials programmes, because IPEDS publishes no battery category.
- Shares are of degrees awarded, not of the current workforce. A doctorate awarded in 2016 may have left the country or the field.
- 'Non-resident alien' is the IPEDS reporting category: a student on a temporary visa. Permanent residents are counted as domestic.
- The restriction note states the law as written. It is not an observed hiring outcome. This data cannot show who was employed, under what authorisation, or whether they stayed.
- Export control, access authorisation and a security clearance are three different things. Only a DOE L or Q access authorisation requires US citizenship.
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NCES IPEDS Completions, research doctorates, 2015-2022.
Compare the others on the hub.