Operations Center Operator (Operator 4/5)
Los Alamos National Laboratory
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Benefits offered by this job
Job summary
Los Alamos National Laboratory in Los Alamos, NM seeks an experienced Operations Center professional to support TA-55 through 24/7 staffing. You will coordinate with Operations, Maintenance, Engineering and Safety to ensure safe, stable facility operations and compliance with safety bases.
Operator 4/5 duties include monitoring facility status, performing work-control and surveillance tracking, and guiding less-experienced staff. A valid DOE-related background is required.
Qualifications
- Extensive knowledge and experience applying Conduct of Operations principles in a nuclear/high-hazard environment.
- Ability to maintain broad facility awareness, assess operational impacts and priorities, and communicate issues.
- Extensive knowledge of formal work-control, integrated work management, hazard controls, and coordination.
- Experience with lockout/tagout policies, procedures, and recordkeeping.
- Understanding of Authorization/Safety Basis requirements and required surveillance status.
- Strong understanding of configuration management, system-status control, and safe operational practices.
- Knowledge of facility mechanical, electrical, instrumentation, and control systems.
- Ability to interpret drawings, blueprints, and schematics.
- Familiarity with policies, procedures, and computerized work-control/operations systems.
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
Responsibilities
- Conduct of Operations: apply principles in a nuclear/high-hazard facility.
- Operational awareness: maintain facility awareness and priorities and communicate issues.
- Integrated Work Management: manage work control and coordination of concurrent activities.
- Lockout/Tagout: execute LOTO policies and recordkeeping.
- Authorization Basis / TSRs: work within required surveillance and safety basis constraints.
- Configuration and Status Control: maintain operating configuration and safety practices.
- Facility Systems: understand mechanical/electrical/instrumentation systems and impacts.
- Drawings and Schematics: interpret related drawings and schematics.
- Policies/Computerized Systems: utilize work-control and ops systems effectively.
- Communication: provide clear operational communications during routine and emergencies.
Skills
Education
Job description
This position is open for external candidates only to apply.
You will report to a TA-55 Shift Operations Supervisor. Operations Center Operators (OCOs) provide continuous operational coordination and facility-status oversight for TA-55 and serve as a primary interface among Facility Operations, tenant organizations, Maintenance, Engineering, safety organizations, support services subcontractors, and the Facility Operations Director (FOD) organization.
- Facility access control and work authorization/release by tracking, screening, and verifying that activities are properly scheduled through the Plan-of-the-Day (POD), are ready to execute, and are compatible with current facility conditions.
- Administration of the lockout/tagout (LOTO) management program, including issuing and controlling locks, maintaining required records, and supporting procedural development and improvement.
- Tracking Technical Safety Requirement (TSR) and Administrative Surveillance Instruction (ASI) surveillances to ensure required facility-system surveillances remain in conformance with the established Authorization/Safety Basis.
- Maintaining accurate facility operational status, logs, status boards, restrictions, impairments, and required shift-turnover information.
- Receiving, evaluating, communicating, and tracking changes in facility conditions, abnormal conditions, work impacts, restrictions, and required follow-up actions.
- Coordinating notifications and communications during abnormal events, Potential Process Deviations (PPDs), emergency response activities, and other conditions requiring Facility Operations involvement.
- Supporting the Shift Operations Supervisor in maintaining the facility in a safe, stable, and compliant configuration and in resolving conflicting or emergent work priorities.
- Coordinating across Operations, Maintenance, Engineering, Safety Basis, Criticality Safety, Radiological Control, Emergency Management, Security, and programmatic organizations as needed to support safe facility operations.
- Reviewing facility conditions, work scope, and configuration impacts to support safe execution of work and continued compliance with the Authorization/Safety Basis.
- Applying Conduct of Operations, formal work control, Integrated Work Management, configuration management, procedural compliance, and conservative decision-making in day-to-day facility activities.
- Become fully qualified through the TA-55 Operations Center training and qualification program, or bring significant directly relevant subject-matter experience from a comparable nuclear or high-hazard facility.
- Independently perform the full range of Operations Center duties and safely execute safety-critical tasks and required surveillances.
- Maintain facility and system-status awareness; recognize unexpected, abnormal, or changing conditions; and take or initiate appropriate actions within established procedures and authority.
- Perform work-control, LOTO, surveillance-tracking, operational-recordkeeping, shift-turnover, and coordination responsibilities for multiple concurrent facility activities.
- Apply Authorization/Safety Basis requirements, Conduct of Operations principles, Integrated Work Management, configuration management, and conservative decision-making to support safe work execution.
- Provide technical support and guidance to less-experienced operators and trainees as experience and qualification allow.
In addition to the responsibilities outlined for Operator 4, at this level you should expect to:
- Serve as the senior Operations Center operator and facility operational resource during off-shifts.
- Maintain broad awareness of facility configuration and Authorization/Safety Basis status and evaluate complex, emergent, or conflicting operational conditions.
- Make informed technical and operational decisions within established authority to maintain safe nuclear-facility operations.
- Direct or coordinate facility resources, as appropriate and within established authority, in response to abnormal conditions, emergencies, changing facility status, or competing operational priorities.
- Provide the Shift Operations Supervisor with informed recommendations regarding facility status, work impacts, restrictions, surveillance status, and operational priorities.
- Provide technical leadership and review, train and mentor less-experienced Operations Center personnel, and contribute to development and improvement of Operations Center processes and procedures.
The TA-55 Operations Center requires 24/7/365 coverage and therefore requires working an off-shift/rotating schedule.
Conduct of Operations: Extensive knowledge and experience applying Conduct of Operations principles in a nuclear or high-hazard facility.
Operational Awareness and Decision-Making: Demonstrated ability to maintain broad facility awareness, recognize unexpected or abnormal conditions, assess operational impacts, establish priorities, and communicate or elevate issues appropriately.
Integrated Work Management / Formal Work Control: Extensive knowledge and experience applying formal work-control and Integrated Work Management principles, including work authorization, readiness verification, hazard controls, configuration impacts, and coordination of concurrent work activities.
Lockout/Tagout: Experience with lockout/tagout policies, procedures, execution, control, and associated recordkeeping.
Authorization Basis / TSRs: Demonstrated experience working within Authorization/Safety Basis or equivalent requirements and understanding the operational significance of required surveillances, limiting conditions, restrictions, and compensatory actions.
Configuration and Status Control: Extensive understanding of operating configuration, configuration control, system-status control, work hazards, safety practices, and the relationship between facility condition and authorized work.
Facility Systems: Extensive knowledge of facility mechanical, electrical, instrumentation, and control systems sufficient to understand facility status, recognize equipment and system impacts, evaluate work-control implications, and support safe operational decision-making. Systems may include ventilation, cooling and refrigeration, fire protection, compressed air, electrical distribution, pneumatic controls, and related support systems.
Drawings and Schematics: Ability to understand and interpret physical, mechanical, electrical, instrumentation/control documents, blueprints, drawings, and schematics.
Policies, Procedures, and Computerized Systems: Extensive knowledge of facility operational policies, practices, procedures, and computerized work-control/operations systems in a nuclear or high-hazard environment, with the ability to learn and apply Laboratory-specific systems and requirements.
Communication: Excellent interpersonal, written, and verbal communication skills, including the ability to provide clear, concise operational communications during routine, abnormal, and emergency conditions.
DOE Order 426.2: Requires a High School Diploma.
Operational Leadership: Demonstrated experience serving as a senior operator, shift lead, control-room lead, or equivalent operational authority in a nuclear or high-hazard facility.
Authorization Basis: Expert knowledge of operating within Authorization/Safety Basis requirements and demonstrated ability to recognize and respond to conditions affecting those requirements.
Operational Decision-Making: Demonstrated ability to independently evaluate unexpected, abnormal, emergent, or conflicting facility conditions and make informed decisions to maintain safe operations.
Configuration and Status Control: Expert knowledge of configuration management, facility status control, and the relationship between operating configuration and authorized work.
Work Control / LOTO: Expert knowledge of formal work-control processes and extensive experience with lockout/tagout policies and procedures.
Surveillance: Expert knowledge of surveillance procedures and the operational significance of TSR/Safety Basis surveillance status.
Leadership: Demonstrated ability to direct or coordinate facility resources, provide technical leadership and review, and train or mentor less-experienced operators.
Facility Systems: Expert-level understanding of facility mechanical, electrical, instrumentation/control, and support systems sufficient to evaluate system status and operational impacts.
Drawings and Schematics: Demonstrated expertise interpreting physical, mechanical, electrical, and instrumentation/control drawings and schematics.
Requires a relevant Associate's Degree and 5 years of related experience, or an equivalent combination of education and experience directly related to the occupation.
Requires an Associate's Degree in a relevant field and 7 years of related experience, or an equivalent combination of education and experience directly related to the occupation. At this level, additional training and certification may be expected.
This position is subject to DOE Order 426.2, Personnel Selection, Training, and Qualification Requirements for DOE Nuclear Facilities, which establishes entry-level requirements to ensure candidates selected for specific positions can successfully perform the requirements of the job.
- Prior experience working in a nuclear facility, for example the Naval Nuclear Power Program, commercial nuclear power, DOE nuclear operations, or a comparable high-hazard facility.
- Knowledge and understanding of Limiting Conditions for Operation (LCOs) and Technical Safety Requirements (TSRs), including the operational response to changing facility conditions.
- Working knowledge of Integrated Safety Management (ISM), Integrated Safeguards and Security Management (ISSM), or equivalent high-hazard safety-management programs.
- Working knowledge of Programmable Logic Controller (PLC)-based systems and facility instrumentation and controls.
- Experience performing shift turnover, maintaining operational logs/status boards, coordinating abnormal-condition notifications, or supporting emergency/incident response.
- Experience with computerized maintenance management, work-control, surveillance-tracking, or operations-status systems.
- Demonstrated experience mentoring, qualifying, or training operations personnel.
Working off-shift/rotating schedule. This position may require 24/7 coverage, which could involve working a shift/weekend schedule. Employees may be eligible for shift differential pay when assigned by their manager. Shift/weekend assignments are at the discretion of the manager.
The work location for this position is fully onsite and located in Los Alamos, NM. All work locations are at the discretion of management.
Regular appointment employees are required to serve a period of continuous service in their current position in order to be eligible to apply for posted jobs throughout the Laboratory. If an employee has not served the time required, they may only apply for Laboratory jobs with the documented approval of their Division Leader. The position commitment for this position is 1 year.
This position requires enrollment in the Human Reliability Program which is a security and safety reliability program to ensure that individuals who have access to certain materials, nuclear explosive devices, facilities and programs meet the highest standards of reliability and physical and mental suitability. It includes a thorough screening process covering credit checks, background screening, initial and random drug/alcohol screens, medical, and psychological evaluations.
Located in beautiful northern New Mexico, Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) is a multidisciplinary research institution engaged in strategic science on behalf of national security. Our generous benefits package includes:
- PPO or High Deductible medical insurance with the same large nationwide network
- Dental and vision insurance
- Free basic life and disability insurance
- Paid maternity and parental leave
- Award-winning 401(k) (6% matching plus 3.5% annually)
- Learning opportunities and tuition assistance
- Flexible schedules and time off (PTO)
- Onsite gyms and wellness programs
- Extensive relocation packages (outside a 50 mile radius)
Directive 206.2 - Employment with Triad requires a favorable decision by NNSA indicating employee is suitable under NNSA Supplemental Directive 206.2. Please note that this requirement applies only to citizens of the United States. Foreign nationals are subject to a similar requirement under DOE Order 142.3A.
Position will be cleared to this level. Selected applicants will be subject to a background investigation conducted by or on behalf of the Federal Government, and must meet eligibility requirements for access to classified matter. This position requires a Q clearance. Obtaining such clearance requires US Citizenship except in extremely rare circumstances. Dependent upon the position, additional authorization to access classified information may be required, which may or may not be available to dual citizens. Receipt of a Q clearance and additional access authorization ultimately is a decision of the Federal Government and not of Triad.
- Eligibility requirements: To obtain a clearance, an individual must be at least 18 years of age; U.S. citizenship is required except in very limited circumstances. See DOE Order 472.2 for additional information.
This position is subject to the requirements of the DOE Human Reliability Program as specified in 10 Code of Federal Regulation, Part 712,
- 712.11. These requirements include ongoing drug and alcohol testing, as well as periodic medical and psychological evaluations.
This position is subject to DOE Order 426.2, Personnel Selection, Training, and Qualification Requirements for DOE Nuclear Facilities, which establishes entry-level requirements to ensure candidates selected for specific positions can successfully perform the requirements of the job.
The Laboratory requires successful applicants to complete a new-employment drug test and maintains a substance abuse policy that includes random drug testing. Although New Mexico and other states have legalized the use of marijuana, use and possession of marijuana remain illegal under federal law. A positive drug test for marijuana will result in termination of employment, even if the use was pre-offer.
Term status Laboratory employees applying for regular-status positions are converted to regular status.
Los Alamos National Laboratory is an equal opportunity employer and supports a diverse and inclusive workforce. All employment practices are based on qualification and merit, without regard to race, color, national origin, ancestry, religion, age, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation or preference, marital status or spousal affiliation, physical or mental disability, medical conditions, pregnancy, status as a protected veteran, genetic information, or citizenship within the limits imposed by federal laws and regulations. The Laboratory is also committed to making our workplace accessible to individuals with disabilities and will provide reasonable accommodations, upon request, for individuals to participate in the application and hiring process. To request such an accommodation, please send an email to applyhelp@lanl.gov or call 1-505-665-4444 option 1.
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