You are trying to get into an industry that is slowly dying; pay has been stagnant for years, and with the closing of plants and the rise of natural-gas plant competition, it will only get worse. They tend to not hire enough techs anymore to save money, and my typical 12 hour day consists of only one 15 minute lunch break. As a tech you are working with craft also under the gun to produce and you have to watch them like hawks or they will skirt rad con rules, get contaminated and you get the blame. There is a saying nowadays, a Rad tech never makes the same mistake twice because they fire you on the first one. The stress level and accidents are high with the pressures for production. I have seen many good techs fired for minor offenses.