Senior Waste Management Physicist

Jacobs; South Oxfordshire; Hybrid; GBP 45,000 - 65,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading environmental consultancy is seeking a Senior Waste Management Physicist to support the growth of its Radioactive Waste Management Consultancy. The role involves providing technical expertise on projects related to radioactive waste, leading modelling studies, and ensuring compliance with safety requirements. The ideal candidate will have a degree in a relevant field and significant experience in a similar role, along with strong analytical and documentation skills.

Benefits

Flexible working arrangements

Inclusive company culture

Qualifications

• Significant experience in a comparable role.
• Ability to analyse complex data sets.
• Attention to detail for quality assurance.

Responsibilities

• Provide technical expertise on radioactive waste management projects.
• Lead modelling studies for safety and compliance.
• Produce and check technical reports and calculations.

Skills

Technical writing

Data analysis

Modelling

Project management

Education

Degree in mathematical, physical science or engineering

Tools

Abaqus

COMSOL

Python

Job description

About the Opportunity

We are recruiting for a Senior Waste Management Physicist to join our Radioactive Waste Management Consultancy business. Due to the rapid growth of our business in civil nuclear waste management we require more support to deliver and continue to expand our expertise.

We have a leading role in waste strategy, inventory and compliance underpinning the future management of radioactive waste, spent nuclear fuels and nuclear materials. In the UK, we deliver a diverse range of projects for waste producers, waste management organisations and strategic authorities across all aspects of the waste lifecycle. We are delivering similarly interesting and exciting projects across the globe including projects for clients in Norway, Central & Eastern Europe and Japan.

We are looking to recruit a highly motivated candidate as a Senior Waste Management Physicist to play a key role in continuing the growth of our business. You will join a friendly, highly collaborative, multi-disciplinary group with backgrounds including physics, mathematics, chemistry, engineering, geology and more. The candidate will be expected to support the technical direction of work areas providing waste assessment and disposability advice to waste providers, providing input to our company waste retrievals projects and supporting disposability on behalf of waste management organisations. Supporting activities include modelling or use of scientifically underpinned arguments in areas such as wasteform or container performance, thermal or impact analysis, criticality safety and more.

The vacancy provides an excellent opportunity for those wishing to develop their careers, with potential to lead a key technical area and support the development of a growing team.

We are operating under flexible working arrangements, with a mixture of office-based and home working environments. The role can be based at Harwell, Dorchester, Birchwood or Scrabster and other locations will be considered.

Key Responsibilities

As a Senior Waste Management Physicist, you will provide technical expertise on a wide variety of projects for customers including radioactive waste management organisations, radioactive waste producers and regulators, both in the UK and overseas. Work includes a wide variety of activities across the areas of integrated radioactive waste management, spent fuels and nuclear materials including:

• Leading modelling studies in a range of technical areas; this may include simple or complex modelling to underpin safety and compliance requirements. Depending on the experience of the individual, key modelling areas could include:
• Logistics or lifecycle analysis modelling
• Wasteform properties and expected evolution
• Container performance and durability
• Accident performance (including fire, impact or both)
• Thermal modelling of radioactive waste under storage, transport or disposal conditions
• Criticality safety modelling or assessment across the waste lifecycle
• Sensitivity or uncertainty analyses for any of the above
• Leading or providing significant input to disposability assurance activities for both Higher Activity Waste and Lower Activity Waste. This includes both the development of disposability submissions (e.g. Waste Characterisation forms for the LLWR or Letter of Compliance submissions for NWS’s Geological Disposal programme) and the review of such disposal cases
• Producing, and checking calculations, analyses, design basis documentation and technical reports
• Delivering high-quality and bespoke technical and strategic support to our clients
• Leading interactions with clients and stakeholders to ensure we understand the underlying requirements of our customers, and how we can meet them
• Supporting mentoring and skills development for our graduates and other junior staff
• Supporting the continued development of our business through identifying, bidding for and winning new work, either with new or existing clients

What You7ll Need

• A degree qualification (or equivalent training and experience) in an appropriate mathematical, physical science or engineering discipline
• Significant experience in a comparable role (candidates need experience of some of the technical topic areas described above, but not necessarily all)
• Ability to identify appropriate modelling and/or assessment approaches for identified requirements, taking into account constraints of time, budget and the level of detail required
• Able to clearly document and communicate assumptions that underpin the analyses undertaken and presented
• Ability to analyse complex data sets and models, distil the important safety features and communicate concisely with specialists and senior stakeholders
• Numerate with excellent technical writing/reviewing skills
• High attention to detail in support of quality assurance requirements
• Adaptable and able to work on a variety of projects, prioritising as appropriate

The following are not essential but we welcome applications from candidates who have any of the following experience:

• Applying nuclear-industry software tools (e.g. Abaqus, COMSOL, MONK, MCNP, FISPIN, GoldSim)
• Scientific programming (e.g. Python, Mathematica, MATLAB or advanced Microsoft Excel features such as macros)
• Experience of regulatory requirements applicable to radioactive waste and its management including storage, transport, facility operations and long term disposal.
• General knowledge of reactor physics and engineering – specifically how nuclear fuel behaves in a reactor and how fission and fusion processes generate radioactive waste
• Business development, project management and client engagement

Our Culture

Our values stand on a foundation of safety, integrity, inclusion and diversity. We put people at the heart of our business, and we genuinely believe that we all succeed by supporting one another through our culture of caring. We value positive mental health and a sense of belonging for all employees.

We aim to embed inclusion and diversity in everything we do. We know that if we are inclusive, we’re more connected, and if we are diverse, we’re more creative. We accept people for who they are, regardless of age, disability, gender identity, gender expression, marital status, mental health, race, faith or belief, sexual orientation, socioeconomic background, and whether you’re pregnant or on family leave. This is reflected in our wide range of Global Employee Networks centered on inclusion and diversity.

We partner with VERCIDA to help us attract and retain diverse talent. For greater online accessibility, please visit www.vercida.com to view and access our roles. As a Disability Confident employer, we will interview all disabled applicants who meet the minimum criteria for a vacancy. We welcome applications from candidates who are seeking flexible working and from those who may not meet all the listed requirements for a role.