Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for Nuclear Health Physicist Coordinator

🎯 Role Definition

The Nuclear Health Physicist Coordinator leads and coordinates the radiological safety and health physics program across one or more facilities or sites. This role is responsible for developing, implementing, and maintaining radiation protection policies and procedures, ensuring regulatory compliance (NRC, DOE, EPA and applicable state agencies), driving ALARA (As Low As Reasonably Achievable) initiatives, managing dosimetry and radiation monitoring programs, conducting radiological surveys and root cause analyses, and serving as a primary technical advisor for radiological operations and emergency response. The coordinator liaises with operations, engineering, EHS, contractors, and regulators to maintain a safe, compliant environment for radioactive materials, ionizing radiation sources, and radiation-producing equipment.

📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

Health Physics Technician / Radiological Control Technician with hands-on dose assessment and survey experience.
Radiation Safety Specialist or Radiation Protection Technician from a medical, industrial, or academic setting.
Nuclear Technician / Nuclear Plant Radiological Operations Technician with radiological monitoring background.

Advancement To:

Senior Health Physicist / Lead Health Physicist
Radiation Safety Manager or Radiological Control Program Manager
Director of Environmental Health & Safety (EHS) or Radiological Compliance Director

Lateral Moves:

Radiological Control Officer (RCO) at nuclear facilities
Environmental Compliance or Industrial Hygiene Manager

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

Develop, implement, and maintain a comprehensive radiation protection program that ensures compliance with NRC, DOE, EPA, OSHA, and state regulatory requirements while aligning with organizational goals and ALARA principles.
Serve as the primary point of contact and technical advisor for radiological safety matters, providing expert guidance to operations, engineering, procurement, and senior leadership on radioactive materials management and radiation risks.
Lead and coordinate radiological surveys, contamination assessments, airborne/radionuclide monitoring, and area dose-rate mapping using calibrated instrumentation and standardized methodologies.
Manage the personnel dosimetry program, including dosimeter issuance and retrieval, dose record review, interpretation of dosimetry reports, and corrective actions for trending or exceedances.
Prepare, review, and maintain radiation safety procedures, SOPs, work permits, radiation work authorizations, and technical work documents that support safe handling of radioactive materials and radiation-producing equipment.
Conduct hazard analyses, job coverage reviews, and pre-job briefings for radiologically controlled work, ensuring adequate controls, engineering design review, and personal protective equipment requirements are in place.
Plan, deliver, and evaluate radiation safety training programs for staff, contractors, and visitors (initial, refresher, and task-specific training) to maintain competency and regulatory readiness.
Coordinate radiological emergency response planning and exercises, including spill response, airborne releases, contamination control, and interface with facility emergency operations and local/state response agencies.
Oversee radiological waste management activities, including segregation, packaging, labeling, characterization, storage, and disposal in accordance with waste acceptance criteria and regulatory manifesting requirements.
Implement and maintain radiological instrumentation programs: procurement, calibration scheduling, performance checks, maintenance, and documentation for survey meters, spectrometers, air samplers, and portal monitors.
Perform source-term evaluations, uptake assessments, bioassay program coordination, and dose reconstructions following unusual exposures, incidents, or potential intake events.
Lead internal and external audits, assessments, and inspections of the radiological program, prepare corrective action plans, track closure of findings, and implement continuous improvement initiatives.
Review design and operational changes for radiological impacts, participate in design reviews and safety basis updates, and provide ALARA input to project teams during planning and modification phases.
Maintain radiological records and reporting systems: occupational dose records, radioactive material inventories, incident reports, survey records, calibration logs, and regulatory submissions.
Coordinate licensing activities, inspections, permit renewals, and reporting to regulatory authorities (NRC, state agencies, DOE) including preparation of technical reports, notifications, and annual summaries.
Perform radiological evaluations for facility decontamination, decommissioning planning, and remediation projects including characterization planning, sampling strategies, and waste disposition pathing.
Provide technical support for environmental monitoring and surveillance programs related to radiological effluents, releases, and offsite dose assessments, ensuring timely sampling, analysis, and reporting.
Establish and maintain constructive partnerships with contractors, vendors, and external laboratories for instrument calibration, waste disposal, and specialized radiochemical analyses.
Analyze radiological data, maintain program metrics and dashboards, identify trends and potential noncompliances, and prepare concise briefings and technical summaries for executive leadership and regulators.
Supervise, mentor, and develop junior health physicists, technicians, and contractor personnel; foster a safety-first culture and ensure staff maintain required certifications and training.
Implement and manage radiological access control (controlled, restricted, and airborne areas), posting and signage, and radioactive materials control to prevent unauthorized exposure or spread of contamination.
Oversee procurement and inventory control of radioactive sources and sealed source accountability, including source inventory reconciliation and leak testing.
Participate in cross-functional hazard mitigation initiatives, ergonomics of radiological tasks, human performance improvement, and integration of radiation safety into organizational risk management practices.
Provide subject-matter expertise for contract reviews, proposal evaluations, and vendor assessments where radiological risk, transport of radioactive materials, or radiation-producing devices are involved.

Secondary Functions

Support ad-hoc data requests and exploratory data analysis.
Contribute to the organization's data strategy and roadmap.
Collaborate with business units to translate data needs into engineering requirements.
Participate in sprint planning and agile ceremonies within the data engineering team.
Assist with budget planning and cost tracking for radiological program activities, instrumentation, waste disposal, and training.
Support community and stakeholder communications related to radiological events or routine environmental monitoring reports.
Maintain and continuously improve radiological forms, templates, and electronic recordkeeping to enhance compliance and auditability.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

Health physics program management and development of radiation protection policies and SOPs.
Understanding of U.S. regulatory frameworks: NRC, DOE Orders, EPA, DOT (transport regulations for radioactive material), and state radiation control programs.
Proficiency with dosimetry programs (TLD, OSL, electronic personal dosimeters), dose assessment tools, and dose reconstruction methodologies.
Hands-on experience with radiological instrumentation: GM counters, ion chambers, scintillation detectors, gamma spectrometers, alpha/beta counters, air samplers, and continuous air monitors.
Radiological survey techniques, contamination control methods, and decontamination strategies for surfaces, equipment, and facilities.
Radiological emergency response planning, incident command interface, and conducting drills/exercises for response readiness.
Radioactive materials handling, packaging, shipping, labeling, manifesting, and waste classification for low-level and mixed radioactive wastes.
Environmental radiological monitoring, effluent control, and offsite dose modeling / environmental dose assessment.
Radiochemical sampling and interpretation of laboratory radiological analyses (alpha, beta, gamma spectroscopy).
Experience performing audits, assessments, root cause analysis, corrective action tracking, and implementing continuous improvement in RPPs.
Familiarity with radiation safety software and databases (dose tracking, inventory management), and Microsoft Office/Google Workspace for reporting and dashboards.
Practical knowledge of ALARA processes, shielding calculations, and radiological engineering controls.
Experience preparing regulatory submissions, license amendments, and technical reports to support inspections and compliance.

Soft Skills

Strong written communication skills for preparing clear technical reports, regulatory submittals, and procedures that stand up to audits and inspections.
Effective oral communication and presentation skills for training delivery, stakeholder briefings, and interfacing with regulators.
Excellent analytical and problem-solving skills to interpret radiological data, evaluate risk, and recommend practicable controls.
Leadership and team development skills to mentor junior staff, lead cross-functional teams, and influence safety culture.
Detail-oriented with strong organizational skills to manage records, calibration schedules, and complex documentation.
Project management capability to plan and execute radiological projects, schedule work, and manage multiple priorities.
Collaboration and interpersonal skills to work across operations, engineering, compliance, and external agencies.
Decision-making under pressure during incidents and the ability to recommend protective actions quickly and clearly.
Customer-service orientation when supporting mission operations and contractor activities while balancing safety and productivity.
Continuous learning mindset to stay current with evolving radiation protection standards, instrumentation, and best practices.

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:

Bachelor’s degree in Health Physics, Radiological Sciences, Nuclear Engineering, Physics, or a closely related technical field.

Preferred Education:

Master’s degree in Health Physics, Radiological Sciences, Nuclear Engineering, or Environmental Health and Safety.
Certified Health Physicist (ABHP) or equivalent professional certification is highly desirable.

Relevant Fields of Study:

Health Physics / Radiological Sciences
Nuclear Engineering
Physics
Environmental Science with radiological emphasis
Industrial Hygiene with radiation specialization

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range:

5–12 years of progressively responsible experience in health physics, radiation protection, or radiological control; examples include facility RSO support, radiological operations in nuclear power, DOE sites, research reactors, medical isotope production, or industrial radiography oversight.

Preferred:

8+ years of experience managing radiation protection programs, coordinating regulatory interactions (NRC/DOE/state), and demonstrated experience in emergency response, dosimetry oversight, and training program development. Experience supervising technical staff and leading cross-functional radiological projects is preferred.