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Article Contact: Susquehanna Station RP Manager Adrian Nestico (570-542-1643)

The Susquehanna Radiation Protection Department (RP) is collaborating with BHI Energy to offer driven and motivated individuals an opportunity to grow a rewarding career as a Radiation Protection Technician.

As a result of specialty attrition, there has been a dramatic shift industry-wide leaving a shortage for RP Technician resources. These industry shortages have created opportunities for new personnel to enter the workforce as a RP Technicians.

New candidates may begin by obtaining entry-level qualifications to become a Junior RP Technician by following the program outlined below. Through Susquehanna and BHI, candidates have the opportunity to work at Susquehanna during their Refueling Outages as a Junior RP Technician as well as many other nuclear plants across the country. Working through BHI, candidates can work both the fall and spring Refueling Outage seasons.

The program consists of the following:

• Candidates shall contact the Susquehanna RPM (BHI Program Sponsor) with their interest.
• Candidates will be given the opportunity to ensure all their questions are answered and determine if they wish to be entered into the program. BHI will then register them to access the BHI proprietary E- Learning courses on bhienergy.rise.com.
• Candidates will go through various E-Learning courses and self-study to prepare for the Junior Fundamentals exam (RPFUN1).
• Once the candidate feels ready to take the RPFUN1 exam, they will work with the RP department to setup a date and time at the Susquehanna Learning Center or West Building to be proctored.
• Candidates must pass the RPFUN1 exam to proceed with the program and obtain the Junior RP Technician entry level qualifications.
• Following successful completion of the RPFUN1 exam, candidates will self-study through bhienergy.rise.com to complete Standardized Task Evaluations (STE) for Junior RP Technicians. Each STE requires a written exam and an observed task performance evaluation. There are six initial STEs to qualify for work at a nuclear plant. Written exams and performance evaluations are administered using the platform established by the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI).
• When the candidate is ready, they will work with the RP department to setup proctoring dates and times for written STE examinations.
• Once the STE examinations are successfully completed, then the candidate is ready to complete their on-the-job task training and task performance evaluations (OJT and TPE).
• These task qualifications (training & evaluations) currently require a candidate to travel to the BHI facility in Lawrenceville, Georgia, for two to three days to practice using RP equipment and to learn to become a RP Technician.
• If there are enough candidates who are local and ready for this phase, we will work with BHI to leverage performing this portion locally at Susquehanna if we can make it work.

Upon successful completion of the program, candidates will be able to work at various refueling outages across the industry (including Susquehanna). Typically, RP technicians can work 2-3 outages in both the fall and spring outage seasons.

Average outage durations can last from 1-2 weeks working 40 hours per week followed by 3-4 weeks of working 6 – 12 hours per day. After your work hours exceed the normal 40 hours in a week, then overtime is paid at 1.5 times the hourly rate. Candidates can likely expect to work 8 – 12 weeks each season if they choose too and can certainly work more depending on their drive and motivation while working with the BHI recruiters.

Answers to some common FAQs:

• Susquehanna currently pays Junior RP Techs $20 to $22 per hour and $120 per day of per diem.
• Local technicians, living within 50 miles of the plant are paid $28 to $30 per hour with no per diem offered.
• Senior RP Technicians with BHI are paid up to $34 per hour and $42 per hour for local.
• Pay and per diem rates will vary with outages at different plants across the country. If you are unfamiliar with per diem, it is tax free money paid to the Technician for living expenses.

If you know anyone who is interested in this opportunity, please have them reach out to the RP department with any questions to learn more, as we as the RP Department are happy to help!

The BHI RP Technician Training Link with more information may be found here: Radiation Protection Training- BHI Energy; the BHI RP Technician Outage list link to get an idea of upcoming outages: Outage Information – BHI Energy