Health Physics

[therealville]

I have an active Q clearance but have no training on experience in Health Physics. I know some people in the field though and they say they might be able to help me land a job as the employer will provide all the training needed. What kind of experience would be needed and what looks good to employers on a resume to see if its even worth applying for. Thanks Alot.

[BeerCourt]

You can start at the bottom by working as a decon tech at a commercial site - or maybe DOE - and work your way up to Junior RP, then Senior.  You can take the training and get your DOE Core card by clicking the tab above.  DOE doesn't rally have the same classifications.  Their RCT's are either qualified or not.  Having a Core card, and site-specific training (plus an oral board in some cases) makes you qualified.  Prior to finishing that, there is an OJT program.
Or, you can get into the Navy nuclear program, but that will mean six years before you can come back to the DOE.

Certainly you must have some contacts at the DOE site where you work(ed).  Ask them to get you in touch with the RCT's or a vendor company who supplies them.  Having a Q might make you quite interesting to them.  It takes away a big part of the investment on their part.  I'm guessing that it is easier and cheaper to train a Q to be an RCT than it is to get a Q clearance for someone already trained who doesn't have one.  I assume you already have the 40 hour HAZWOPER.  That makes you even more interesting to them, since they don't like paying for that either.

[Rennhack]

I have an active Q clearance but have no training on experience in Health Physics. I know some people in the field though and they say they might be able to help me land a job as the employer will provide all the training needed. What kind of experience would be needed and what looks good to employers on a resume to see if its even worth applying for. Thanks Alot.

The most important thing is that you KEEP your Q.  Be an escort if you have to.  I know companies right now looking for Q escorts.

Just about any company that hires Q cleared RCT's will hire you with your Q and bring you in as a junior, and teach you to be a Sr.

[therealville]

Thanks alot guys, what type of training will I get and what type and math is involved?

[BeerCourt]

The training will be in systems (general) and procedures.
The math required for Rad Protection is no higher than high school algebra.

[johnnieslingshot]

I have a question about HVL and gamma energy.  I noticed in Gollnick 5th edition that it lists the HVL for Co-60 as 1.2 cm of lead and Ra-226 HVL as 1.66 cm of lead.  My question is why is the shielding for Ra thicken than for Co when Co's max energy gamma is 1.332 MeV and Ra's max gamma is only 0.186 MeV??  Does this mean that the build-up factor for scattered gammas is larger for the Ra-226 than for Co-60?

[Motown homey]

This might help.  It shows probabilities of interaction, and while it doesn't directly answer your question, it can give you more insight as to what is happening.

Open the link and go to page 142 (which is actually page 134)

http://www.mcw.edu/FileLibrary/Groups/AMRSO/Files/RHHcomplete.pdf

[thenukeman]

I am going with the 1.764 MEV Gamma of its Daughter product Bismuth 214 as the reason for more lead for Radium 226.


Bi-214 20  Min Halflife 1.764 MEV Gamma.  Being in secular equilibrium the concentration in curies should be the same for Natural Radium 226 and Bismuth 214.

Three main gamma energy peaks for BI-214 are at 609 keV, 1120 keV, and 1764 keV.

However the Gamma Constant is less for Radium than Cobalt. 

So  the Half Value Layer seems to be based on the maximum Gamma Energy which is a conservative approach.


You are shielding the Bismuth Gamma not the direct gamma from Radium.

[SloGlo]

I have an active Q clearance but have no training on experience in Health Physics. I know some people in the field though and they say they might be able to help me land a job as the employer will provide all the training needed. What kind of experience would be needed and what looks good to employers on a resume to see if its even worth applying for. Thanks Alot.

experience needed......work history in hazardous materials areas, a hazwoper training would help but not a mandatory requirement.  experience with math and physics would also be helpful, the math would most likely be mandatory and education would count as long as you are currently fluent and able to express yourself and understand others math.  probably more important than experience would be your personal abilities, such as the ability to work well with other people, the ability to draw upon knowledge base and make rapid correct decisions, the ability to lift heavy loads occasionally and light loads continuously, the ability to be able to maintain a professional bearing in a construction environment and maintain an egalitarian attitude toward all disciplines encountered.
there are probly more, these are ones off the top of my head.

[johnnieslingshot]

Many thanks to Nuke and Motown for your input.  My instructor couldn't answer my question but I knew the intelligent folks on here would come up with plausible answer.

Thanks again,
Slingshot