Internship in nuclear engineering for a foreign student

[Tommy.E]

Hi !


I am a French student in nuclear engineering, I will complete my master degree next year and between February 2013 and July (or August) 2013 I will have to do an internship to practise all I have learnt.
I will have studied nuclear technology, reactor physics, thermal hydraulics (simple and two phase), safety and reliability of systems, neutronics, materials, computer simulation and knowledges in marketing, management, financial management.

I am looking for an internship in an English-speaking country such as USA, UK or Canada. I have visited lot of company's website and I always need to have the right to work in the country to apply. But to have the right to work, I need a job.
I have also seen that the majority of the offers are for co-op or college internship, or even for bachelor's degree.

French higher education is really different and I wish to know if it is possible to do that kind of internship and how I can do it. If you have some advice, it would be fantastic !

Tommy

 

[pm35]

Unfortunately, it's hard enough for US students to land internships in their own country...especially in a field like nuclear engineering which has had a huge increase (on the order of 3 fold) in the number students in recent years. There is a lot of competition for those internships and entry level jobs. What's worse is that outside of the power industry nuclear jobs almost always require a security clearance, and since you aren't a citizen, you can't get one.

Those power companies are looking for future employees to fill their internships, they may overlook you because being from another country, you are less likely (in their eyes) to be a future full-time employee.

If you have excellent English skills you might be useful to a company like Areva who has N. American operations. Perhaps you could get over here by applying through a French company back home.

 

[jim hardy]

Check with NextEra Energy.

Their Turkey Point plant is located 30 miles south of Miami and they have trouble attracting people to South Florida because of "Urban Sprawl" and all it brings.

If you go there you'd want to live in The Redlands or The Keys. Miami Springs if you don't mind an hour commute through awful traffic..

Your credentials coupled with a few years operations experience would be awesome.

old jim

 

[Thermalne]

You should apply to Areva, Westinghouse, B&W, and GE-Hitachi. Those four seem to use a lot of international students for interns (most in foreign countries though). I'd still apply to any major Utility in the USA. http://www.nei.org/careersandeducat...olarships/industryinternshipsinnuclearenergy/

Good luck and hope you find what you're looking for!