Advantages of membership of the Institution of Nuclear Engineers

The Institution of Nuclear Engineers is a professional body whose principal aim is the promotion of the highest standards of professional practice and knowledge in nuclear engineering.

Admission procedures ensure that members maintain these high standards and membership of the Institution confers a hallmark of professional standing. The additional hallmark of ECUK Registration, with the designations of Chartered Engineer, Incorporated Engineer or Engineering Technician can be conferred on those members who fulfil the appropriate requirements.

Membership of the Institution

Joining the Institution demonstrates personal commitment to high professional standards in the nuclear industry and gains personal professional recognition through accredited membership of a body of specialist engineers.This professional recognition extends worldwide.

Nuclear technology is a modern technology, and draws practitioners from a wide range of interests and disciplines. Whilst other bodies deal partially with nuclear engineering, none can truly claim to represent the professional interests of nuclear engineers and scientists as the Institution of Nuclear Engineers does.

Membership of the Institution qualifies members as nuclear engineers and membership of the Institution of Nuclear Engineers also gives access to CEng , IEng and EngTech qualifications, giving members professional standing within the wider world of engineering.

Members receive the leading nuclear engineering professional journal Nuclear Future, to keep them abreast of the latest developments in the field of nuclear engineering, as a benefit of membership.

The Institution gives members advance information of conferences and seminars organised by the Institution and other bodies in the wider world of nuclear engineering. Preferential rates are available for members at Institution events.

The Institution is also able to give members personal advice on professional development and professional standing issues.

Members also gain access to international developments and professional development opportunities through publications and events organised by the Institution.

The Institution’s aims are to represent the professional interests of nuclear engineers and scientists and as such, the Institution is the lead qualifying body for registration with the Engineering and Technology Board of EC^UK.

What is a Nuclear Engineer?

Engineers and scientists from a wide range of disciplines form the backbone of nuclear engineering. They have expertise in a particular area of science or engineering but they have one common factor, they are all involved with either harnessing the energy locked up in the atomic nucleus or exploiting the properties of nuclear radiation for the benefit of the wider community. Their work in deploying nuclear technology to gain tangible benefits for the community must always keep safety issues foremost.

What makes nuclear engineering unique is that safety has to be the first, last and overriding consideration which permeates the whole of the profession. This imperative can only be sustained through the highest standards of professional development.

Nuclear engineers work in a profession, which requires the highest technological standards, arguably in the most challenging technical environment.These challenges produce the foremost standards of personal professionalism and in this respect Nuclear Engineers form an elite group.

Given the diverse nature of nuclear engineering the Institution will consider applicants from most engineering and scientific fields and provides a route to membership where a clear link to nuclear engineering exists and in addition will provide a route for those who are suitably qualified and experienced to register with the ECUK as chartered Engineer, Incorporated Engineer or Engineering Technician.

The Professional Engineer and the Institution

The hallmark of a profession is the responsibility it accepts for the professional standing and behaviour of its members. Where technical complexity makes it impossible for the non-specialist to judge a matter in detail, the public must be able to rely on the capability of the professional specialist. It is the responsibility of the engineering profession, through its institutions, to ensure its own integrity. The Institution of Nuclear Engineers takes this responsibility very seriously and was one of the first two non-chartered bodies to be admitted to the Council of Engineering Institutions - forerunner of The Engineering Council (UK) (ECUK), which was established in 1981. The Institution has been a Nominated Body of The Engineering Council since that date and as such it applies standards set by The Board for Engineers Regulation (BER).

The Institution of Nuclear Engineers was founded to promote the peaceful uses of nuclear energy, the advance of the science and practice of nuclear engineering and to act as a focal point for those engaged in the field.

The Institution’s activities are organised by a Council, which is elected by the members, and this Council in turn appoints committees to deal with the various aspects of the Institutions work.

Like other professional institutions, it acts as more than a learned society - it also, in conferring membership, endorses the high standards of education and training of its members. In maintaining these standards the Institution is performing an important function in the public interest. In so doing, it promotes the highest professional and safety standards for the nuclear industry.

The Institution helps maintain the professional competence of its members through many initiatives including publication of the journal, Nuclear Future, and a programme of lectures and conferences. In addition, the

Institution co-operates with other learned societies, institutions and universities with allied interests in the field of nuclear engineering. The Institution makes a corporate contribution to the development of the discipline of nuclear engineering by its activities in professional standards for the industry, in education and also nuclear medicine. The Institution recognises individual merit and encourages the development of the profession through the award of prizes and honours.