Health Physics Technician

Overall Purpose:
The Health Physics Group at UKAEA Culham provides routine advisory and monitoring services to site projects to assist in compliance with Health and Safety laws.
Health Physics Technicians are required to maintain and reliably deliver a routine radiological protection and occupational hygiene service and to provide specialised monitoring support for a wide range of radiological and workplace hazards.
Health Physics Technicians are required to provide operational Health Physics advice as requested to engineers and plant technicians for radiological and beryllium related tasks at Culham (JET/MRF/MDF & MAST-U projects).
Accountabilities:
1) Perform routine surface and airborne contamination monitoring for the control of radiological and beryllium hazards for assessment of site working procedures;
2) Respond to urgent requests for Health Physics cover for radiological protection and/or occupational hygiene advice and provide advice and monitoring in response to incidents, including spills, leaks, releases of radioactivity, chemical release or for site emergency conditions;
3) Set up work areas with the appropriate designation for radiological/beryllium and ensure control measures are correctly applied and written procedures followed as per work permits and authorisations;
4) Provide advice and assistance to RO's relating to the setting up of radiological and beryllium controlled areas specific to the work involved;
5) Change and count stack discharge samples for alpha/beta/gamma/tritium and beryllium contamination;
6) Audit of NDT radiography operations to ensure compliance with the regulations;
8) Prepare samples for counting, use of liquid scintillation counters and assist in the laboratory when required;
9) Complete documents and record forms for transfers of materials from radiological and beryllium areas. Produce clear chronological reports on the results of contamination monitoring.
10) Performing confined space atmospheric checks and other occupational hygiene measurements for hazardous chemicals as required for work control;
11) Responsible for advice and control of radioactive and beryllium waste disposal where required;
12) Provide cover for overtime, shifts and on-call support (Health Physics Duty Technician) when required;
13) Assist with the training of new team members.
14) Other Health Physics related functions as determined by operational priority.
Budget Responsibility:
None
Specific Qualifications/Experience:
Ideally candidates should have formal qualifications in radiation safety (London Institute, City & Guilds Radiation Safety Practice Stage 1) or the NVQ equivalent although persons with extensive practical experience would also be considered.
Persons should have recent experience of operational radiological protection and a good working knowledge of the Ionising Radiation Regulations (IRR17) would be an advantage.
Experience in occupational hygiene would be desirable.
Individuals must have strong interpersonal skills for communicating clearly with staff who have little or no understanding of radiological or beryllium hazards to ensure compliance with UKAEA standards.
Candidates will need to operate individually and as part of a team, delivering a high-quality service to a wide range of professional engineers and technicians.
A good working knowledge of the English language, good numeracy skills, a basic familiarity with computers and standard packages as well as a clean driving licence are required.
Candidates must have strong interpersonal skills and be able to work flexibly by responding to changes in operational priorities.
The Health Physics Technician role involves more responsibility than similar roles such as a Health Physics monitor or surveyor. Individuals will be expected to prioritise their own work, operate independently and with minimal supervision, and participate in the group's on-call roster for silent hour's response.
Health Physics Technicians may need to be designated as Classified Radiation Workers under IRR17 and under site procedures will be registered beryllium workers for which a medical examination is required. Candidates will also need to be medically fit to wear pressurised suits and other respiratory protective equipment.
A clean driving licence is required.

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