Staffing and Staff Qualifications - STD-1128-98master0075

DOE-STD-1128-98

Guide of Good Practices for Occupational Radiological Protection in Plutonium Facilities

3.4

STAFFING AND STAFF QUALIFICATIONS

A cadre of operating and maintenance personnel that has experience in the operation of a plutonium

facility should be established during the construction of a new facility. The remainder of the

operating and maintenance staff should be hired as soon as possible and should receive formal and

informal training from the experienced personnel. This step is extremely important to enable all

personnel to grow with the facility and learn the details of the operations. Once operations start,

potential problems already should have been identified and engineering or administrative changes

should have been made to resolve them.

Staffing in the radiological control organization requires technicians and professionals in many

support areas. A successful health physics program is highly dependent on the availability of

adequate staff support in areas such as environmental monitoring, instrument maintenance and

calibration, internal and external dosimetry, meteorology, safety analysis, and risk management.

3.4.1 Professional Staffing and Qualifications

The senior staff of the radiological control organization should include health physicists and

other professionals with four-year degrees in science or engineering. A continuing training

program should be established for facility personnel. Pursuit of certification by the

American Board of Health Physics for senior and professional staff members is encouraged

(DOE, 1994a).

At least one professional staff member at the plutonium facility should have a minimum of

three years of health physics experience in the operation of plutonium facilities.

3.4.2 Technician Staffing and Qualifications

Recommendations for minimum entry-level requirements for RCTs are given in the DOE

standard, Radiological Control (DOE, 1999a), and DOE STD-1122-99, Radiological

Control Technician Training (DOE, 1999c). They include a high school education or

equivalency and knowledge of certain scientific fundamentals. If a two-year degree in

nuclear technology or an equivalent discipline is locally available, completion of such a

program should be encouraged.

Where possible, the Radiological Control Technicians (RCTs) and other members of the

health physics staff should have a minimum of one year's experience working at a plutonium

facility. Such experience is an important prerequisite to allowing them to work

unsupervised. Personnel hired without such experience should work an internship of six

months under the leadership of a qualified RCT or supervisor with experience in that

facility.

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