Nuclear Power Reactor Operators
In short: today's best AI models could do about 12% of this job's working time (projected from METR's April 2026 measurement and Epoch's November 2026 index) if the work were set up for them, and about 13% by the end of 2028 if progress keeps its long-run pace. The people and hands-on work, about 87% of the time, stays with people.
Operate or control nuclear reactors. Move control rods, start and stop equipment, monitor and adjust controls, and record data in logs. Implement emergency procedures when needed. May respond to abnormalities, determine cause, and recommend corrective action.
5,150 people do this job in the US. $122,890 a year.
A typical 40-hour week
Not yet reviewed task by task- AI could take on5 h
- A person checks AI's work0 h
- Desk work AI can't do yet0 h
- Stays with people35 h
Nuclear Power Reactor Operators, now: of a 40-hour week, AI could take on 5 hours, 0 hours become checking its work, 0 hours are desk work it can't do yet, and 35 hours stay with people.
The largest pieces: Review and edit standard operating procedures (about 2 h); Record operating data, such as the results of surveillance tests (about 1 h); Dispatch orders or instructions to personnel through radiotelephone or intercommunication systems to coordinate auxiliary equipment operation (under an hour).
Estimates for a typical week of this job, if progress keeps its long-run pace, counting work the best models finish four times in five. Every task is below.
of the working time. Now is projected from METR's April 2026 measurement and Epoch's November 2026 index.
- 13%
- 4%
- 83%
of the work: Anthropic's measure of what people already bring to Claude at work (2025). It counts help with part of a task, so it can be higher than the share within reach.
On the chosen pace and reliability. Estimate.
Share of the working time within reach, now to 2030
Change assumptionsHide assumptionsLong-run pace, four in five
What each choice means: , , , , . Every pace starts from .
At this date and pace, models finish tasks up to 2.4 work days long four times in five.
How far this has come
With GPT-4, measured in March 2023, 0% of this job's working time was within reach at . With Claude 3.7 Sonnet, measured in February 2025, 1%. With Claude Mythos Preview (early), measured in April 2026, 8%. Today's estimate: 12%.
A backcast: today's task data with the best model METR had measured by each date. It shows how fast the models have moved, not what anyone forecast at the time.
Measured use over time
Of the Claude.ai conversations Anthropic sampled and tied to a work task, no reportable share went to this job's tasks in May 2026; 0 of its 19 tasks showed up. Within each of Anthropic's methods, never across a change: 0.0037% to none (released February and March 2025).
Each release
| Conversations | Share | Rank | Tasks seen |
|---|---|---|---|
| Released February 2025 | 0.0037% | 641 of 708 | 1 of 19 |
| Released March 2025 | none | n/a | 0 of 19 |
| The week of Aug 4, 2025 (released September 2025) | none | n/a | 0 of 19 |
| The week of Nov 13, 2025 (released January 2026) | none | n/a | 0 of 19 |
| The week of Feb 5, 2026 (released March 2026) | none | n/a | 0 of 19 |
| April 2026 (released June 2026) | none | n/a | 0 of 19 |
| May 2026 (released June 2026) | none | n/a | 0 of 19 |
Measured, not estimated: Anthropic's samples of Claude.ai conversations, each tied by a model to an O*NET task, from the Anthropic Economic Index. It says where Claude's use goes, not how much of this job's working time it covers, so it is not on the same scale as the reach above. The releases differ in their sample, their classifier and the smallest share they report (the June 2026 file rounds each task to a hundredth of a percent, so a smaller task reads as none), which is why a change of method starts a new line. At least 96% of each older release's task-tied use matched this site's tasks, and all of the newest. Claude.ai only, so use through other tools and other companies' models is not in it. Every job ranked.
Robots and the physical work
Anthropic rates 35% of this job's working time as physical work. For 22% of the working time, a robot has been shown doing most of the task somewhere: 18% in a purpose-built cell, 4% in a structured facility. 0.26 of 3, the 402nd highest of the 923 jobs.
- Not physical 65%
- No robot shown 13%
- In a purpose-built cell 18%
- In a structured facility 4%
Anthropic's rating, not this site's estimate: Claude Opus 5, searching the web, rated each physical O*NET task by the kind of setting in which a robot it could cite (deployed, sold or demonstrated) does most of the task, weighted by its own estimate of each task's share of the time (What work can robots do?, September 30, 2026, data CC BY 4.0; every job ranked). A robot shown somewhere is not a robot in your building: cost, setup and safety decide that. The share within reach on this page still counts no body work. The robot behind each rated task is under the task below.
The tasks
Sorted by . 19 tasks from .
| Task | Kind | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Monitor or operate boilers, turbines, wells, or auxiliary power plant equipment.Done hourly or more by most who do it. Robots: in a purpose-built cell, Siemens Energy Omnivise T3000 control system with SGT-800 gas turbines (BosB72 mode), VW Wolfsburg Nord/Süd power plant (deployed). Anthropic's rating. | 20% | 1.7 h25 min to 5 h | Stays with people | |
| Operate nuclear power reactors in accordance with policies and procedures to protect workers from radiation and to ensure environmental safety.Done hourly or more by most who do it. Robots: no robot shown. Anthropic's rating. | 20% | 6.7 h3.3 h to 1.3 work days | Stays with people | |
| Monitor all systems for normal running conditions, performing activities such as checking gauges to assess output or the effects of generator loading on other equipment.Done hourly or more by most who do it. | 14% | 50 min25 min to 1.7 h | Stays with people | |
| Implement operational procedures, such as those controlling start-up or shut-down activities.Done more than yearly by most who do it. Robots: in a purpose-built cell, PWR reactor control system, primary/secondary frequency control and French 'mode G' rod group R (EDF / Framatome) (deployed). Anthropic's rating. | 8% | 3.3 h50 min to 1.3 work days | Stays with people | |
| Respond to system or unit abnormalities, diagnosing the cause, and recommending or taking corrective action.Done daily by most who do it. | 8% | 1.7 h25 min to 6.7 h | Stays with people | |
| Develop or implement actions such as lockouts, tagouts, or clearances to allow equipment to be safely repaired.Done daily by most who do it. | 6% | 1.3 h25 min to 3.3 h | Stays with people | |
| Review and edit standard operating procedures.Done more than yearly by most who do it. | 5% | 3.3 h50 min to 1 work day | 86%Half by now | |
| Supervise technicians' work activities to ensure that equipment is operated in accordance with policies and procedures that protect workers from radiation and ensure environmental safety.Done daily by most who do it. | 3% | 1.7 h25 min to 5 h | Stays with people | |
| Direct measurement of the intensity or types of radiation in work areas, equipment, or materials.Done more than yearly by most who do it. | 3% | 1.7 h25 min to 5 h | Stays with people | |
| Record operating data, such as the results of surveillance tests.Done several times a day by most who do it. | 3% | 25 min13 min to 1.3 h | 100%Half by now | |
| Conduct inspections or operations outside of control rooms as necessary.Done more than weekly by most who do it. Robots: in a structured facility, ANYmal X (ANYbotics) (deployed). Anthropic's rating. | 3% | 1.3 h25 min to 2.5 h | Stays with people | |
| Dispatch orders or instructions to personnel through radiotelephone or intercommunication systems to coordinate auxiliary equipment operation.Done several times a day by most who do it. | 2% | 13 min4 min to 38 min | 100%Half by now |
Within reach, per task: the share of the task's time whose instances are short enough for a model to finish at the chosen date, pace and reliability. Half by: the date half of that time comes within reach.
Jobs that share skills with this one
From O*NET's related occupations. Within reach now and by the end of 2028, long-run pace, four in five.
Where this job works
The industry groups that employ the most of it (BLS, May 2025).
Questions about this job
- How much of the work of Nuclear Power Reactor Operators is within reach of AI now?
- An estimated 12% of the working time is within reach of AI models now and 13% by the end of 2028, on METR's long-run pace at four in five. Within reach means a model could finish work that long at that reliability. It is not a forecast of jobs lost or of savings.
- Which tasks of Nuclear Power Reactor Operators come within reach first?
- Weighted by the time each takes, the tasks with the most within reach now (projected from METR's April 2026 measurement and Epoch's November 2026 index) are: Review and edit standard operating procedures (86% of the task's time now, 100% by the end of 2028); Record operating data, such as the results of surveillance tests (100% of the task's time now); and Dispatch orders or instructions to personnel through radiotelephone or intercommunication systems to coordinate auxiliary equipment operation (100% of the task's time now).
- Which tasks of Nuclear Power Reactor Operators stay with people?
- Tasks that are people work or body work are not counted as within reach at any date. The largest: Monitor or operate boilers, turbines, wells, or auxiliary power plant equipment; Operate nuclear power reactors in accordance with policies and procedures to protect workers from radiation and to ensure environmental safety; and Monitor all systems for normal running conditions, performing activities such as checking gauges to assess output or the effects of generator loading on other equipment. Together such tasks are about 87% of the working time.
- Do people already use AI for the work of Nuclear Power Reactor Operators?
- In the Claude.ai conversations Anthropic sampled for May 2026, no reportable share went to this job's tasks. Anthropic's labor market measure puts the share of the job's tasks seen in real Claude use at work at 0%. These are measures of use, not of how much of the work AI could finish, and they cover Claude only.
- Can robots do the physical work of Nuclear Power Reactor Operators?
- Anthropic's robot exposure rating (September 2026) finds 35% of the working time is physical work, and that a robot has been shown doing most of the task, somewhere, for 22% of the working time, 4% in a structured facility. Its index is 0.26 of 3. One example: ANYmal X (ANYbotics) for "conduct inspections or operations outside of control rooms as necessary". A robot shown somewhere is not one in every workplace; this site's own estimates still count no physical work as within reach.
- How is this estimated?
- From the 19 tasks O*NET lists for the occupation, each with an estimated length checked against GDPval and a share of the working time, each classed as desk, people or body work, and METR's measurements of how long a task the best AI models can finish, carried forward to the date from the latest, Claude Mythos Preview (early) in April 2026. Data checked November 10, 2026.
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