Decontamination Technician/Nuclear Laborer

Overview

The Decontamination Technician / Nuclear Laborer supports VNSFS during commercial nuclear outages, maintenance projects, and other field activities.

This position performs general labor, radiological decontamination, contamination control, housekeeping, material handling, equipment setup and breakdown, and other activities necessary to safely support outage execution.

The ideal candidate is safety-focused, dependable, willing to work in physically demanding environments, and able to follow procedures and direction while working as part of a team.

Responsibilities

Decontamination & Radiological Support

• Perform decontamination of tools, equipment, components, work areas, and plant surfaces.
• Support contamination-control activities in radiologically controlled areas.
• Assist with installation and removal of containment and contamination-control materials.
• Perform general housekeeping and maintain clean, organized work areas.
• Support collection, segregation, packaging, movement, and staging of contaminated materials as directed.
• Assist Radiation Protection personnel with implementation of radiological controls.
• Follow Radiation Work Permits, postings, boundaries, PPE requirements, and Radiation Protection direction.
• Support dress-out and undress activities as required.
• Immediately report contamination concerns, changing conditions, spills, or other radiological issues.

General Labor & Outage Support

• Provide general labor support to mechanical, electrical, reactor, turbine, and other field-service teams.
• Move, stage, organize, and inventory tools, equipment, materials, and consumables.
• Assist craft personnel with job-site preparation and cleanup.
• Support setup and breakdown of work areas, temporary facilities, barriers, equipment, and tooling.
• Perform material handling and equipment movement within applicable training and qualification requirements.
• Assist with fire-watch, foreign material exclusion, confined-space attendant, or similar support activities when properly trained and assigned.
• Maintain work areas in accordance with housekeeping and safety expectations.
• Perform other outage and maintenance support duties as assigned.

Safety & Quality

• Follow all VNSFS and customer safety, quality, security, and radiological requirements.
• Participate in pre-job briefs and understand assigned responsibilities before beginning work.
• Properly use required PPE and radiological protective clothing.
• Maintain awareness of industrial and radiological hazards.
• Use applicable human-performance tools and follow procedures as written.
• Stop work and notify supervision when unsafe, unexpected, or unclear conditions are identified.
• Maintain a questioning attitude and immediately communicate safety or quality concerns.
• Support foreign material exclusion and contamination-control requirements.
• Maintain professional conduct while representing VNSFS at customer facilities.

Qualifications

Required Qualifications

• High school diploma or GED preferred.
• Previous industrial, construction, power-generation, or nuclear experience preferred but not required for entry-level positions.
• Ability to follow written procedures and verbal instructions.
• Ability to work safely in industrial and radiological environments.
• Ability to successfully complete required nuclear-industry and customer-specific training.
• Ability to obtain and maintain commercial nuclear site access as required.
• Ability to satisfy applicable Fitness-for-Duty and drug-screening requirements.
• Ability to wear required PPE and respiratory protection when qualified and required.
• Ability to workdays, nights, weekends, holidays, and extended outage schedules.
• Ability to travel to customer facilities throughout the United States.

Preferred Qualifications

• Previous commercial nuclear outage experience.
• Previous decontamination or nuclear laborer experience.
• Familiarity with radiologically controlled areas and contamination-control practices.
• Previous experience working under Radiation Work Permits.
• NANTeL qualifications or previous nuclear-industry training.
• Experience with foreign material exclusion programs.
• Experience supporting mechanical, reactor, turbine, or electrical outage work.
• Previous material-handling, industrial housekeeping, or construction experience.

Physical Requirements

This position may require employees to:

• Stand and walk for extended periods.
• Frequently bend, kneel, squat, climb, reach, push, and pull.
• Climb ladders and stairs.
• Work in confined or restricted spaces when properly trained and authorized.
• Lift and carry tools, materials, and equipment within established safe-lifting requirements.
• Wear protective clothing and PPE for extended periods.
• Work in hot, cold, noisy, and physically demanding industrial environments.
• Work in radiologically controlled areas.

Key Desired Traits

Safety focused — follows requirements and speaks up when something does not look right.

Dependable — reports to work on time and can be counted on throughout demanding outage schedules.

Hard working — willing to perform the physical and sometimes repetitive work necessary to support the team.

Team oriented — works well with craft, Radiation Protection, supervision, and customer personnel.

Coachable — listens to direction, accepts feedback, and wants to learn.

Detail oriented — understands that housekeeping, contamination control, FME, and procedural compliance matter in a nuclear environment.

Professional — represents VNSFS appropriately while working at customer facilities.

Work Environment & Travel

This is a field-based position supporting commercial nuclear facilities throughout the United States. Significant travel may be required during outage seasons.

Assignments may require extended periods away from home and schedules that include 10- or 12-hour shifts, nights, weekends, and holidays in accordance with applicable work-hour requirements.

Success Characteristics

A successful Decontamination Technician / Nuclear Laborer consistently demonstrates safe work practices, reliability, a strong work ethic, procedural compliance, teamwork, and a willingness to learn.

This position can also serve as an entry point for employees interested in developing into additional VNSFS roles through experience, training, and demonstrated performance.