About the job

Job summary

An exciting opportunity to be part of the Naval Base Nuclear Safety Assurance team providing Radiation Protection and Radioactive Waste advice to the HM Naval Base Devonport Authorisee.

The Naval Base offers varied, challenging and exciting roles supporting Navy Command’s role to generate and operate forces for today and into the future. Navy Command and the Naval Base provides an open, flexible and supportive work environment with Civil servants and Armed Forces personnel working together in a wealth of interesting and challenging jobs in different disciplines.

Within this role you will be part of a dynamic team working alongside Naval Base departments, industry partners and other assurance sections to deliver the radiological and environmental safety of HMNB Devonport.

This position is advertised at 37 hours per week.

Job description

The Devonport site is a strategic Defence asset as an Operating and Support Base for the Royal Navy and Royal Marines, delivering and enabling a range of direct and indirect support services for the Naval Service. Comprising HMS DRAKE, significant industrial facilities and a range of military and non-military lodger units of which, Defence Equipment & Support, Submarine Delivery Agency, Fleet Operational Standards & Training are the most substantial. It is supported by a number of key Industry Partners including Babcock, Mitie and Serco. The Devonport site is characterised as a Base, Barracks, Port and Dockyard.

The Naval Base Commander Devonport is responsible for providing a World Class, Secure, Safe, Integrated Operating and Support Base for the Royal Navy; his mission is supporting the Royal Navy Worldwide from Devonport. A key part of this responsibility is the support to the submarine programme and the provision of the Nuclear facilities.

The Radiation Protection Adviser will be accountable to the Nuclear Safety Assurance DepHd fulfil the function of the legally appointed Radiation Protection Adviser (RPA) & Radioactive Waste Adviser (RWA) for the Devonport Naval Base (to meet requirements of Regulation 14 of the Ionising Radiations Regulations 2017 & Regulation 24 of the Radiation (Emergency Preparedness and Public Information) Regulations 2019, & The Environmental Permitting (England & Wales) Regulations 2016).

If you need to contact Defence Business Services (DBS) regarding this vacancy, please indicate that your vacancy is being handled by Resourcing Team 1. 

If you experience any technical difficulties with the CS Jobs system, please contact the Support Team at candidate@support.oleeo.com 

Where business needs allow, some roles may be suitable for a combination of office and home-based working.  This is a non-contractual arrangement where all office-based employees will be expected to spend a minimum of 60% of their working time in office, subject to capacity and any required workplace adjustments.  Requirements to attend other locations for official business, or work in another MOD office, will also count towards this level of attendance. Applicants can request further information regarding how this may work in their team from the Vacancy Holder (see advert for contact details). Defence Business Services cannot respond to any questions about working arrangements. 

Person specification

Primary Purpose

• To fulfil the function of the legally appointed Radiation Protection Adviser (RPA) & Radioactive Waste Adviser (RWA) for the Devonport Naval Base (to meet requirements of Regulation 14 of the Ionising Radiations Regulations 2017 & Regulation 24 of the Radiation (Emergency Preparedness and Public Information) Regulations 2019, & The Environmental Permitting (England & Wales) Regulations 2016).
• To provide expert advice on radiological protection (RP) and radioactive waste management (RWM) issues to the HMNB Devonport Directors and Naval Base Commander (Devonport).
• To define and specify the radioactive waste management and disposal policies for HMNB Devonport. Establish all Approvals and Consents with the environmental regulators in order to support the conduct of submarine programme at HMNB Devonport.
• To influence national legislation and departmental policy with regard to radioactive waste management and radiological protection – via engagement directly on legislative consultation or via engagement with nuclear regulatory bodies.
• To assure through audit of site arrangements that HMNB Devonport operation remains compliant with the terms of Nuclear Authorisation and Statutory requirements for RP & RWM.
• To act as principal point of contact with external Nuclear Regulators (EA/DNSR/ONR) on matters relating to RP and RWM on the HMNB Devonport.
• Define HMNB Devonport radioactive materials transport consignment policies and procedures and give advice on and if necessary, act as consignor for the transport of radioactive materials – including Used Fuel Flask consignments on behalf of Naval Base Commander (Devonport).
• Act as collocated Health Physics Advisor during Nuclear Powered Warship visits as required to relevant Operational Berths in support of the broader submarine enterprise requirement.
• Act as Naval Base Duty Health Physics Officer in support of rostered NERO (Nuclear Emergency Response Organisation) Participating in nuclear accident exercises and training as programmed (both on & off-site).
• Deputise for NSA as required.

 PRE JOINING ESSENTIAL TRAINING and EXPERIENCE

Significant experience in the management of radiological safety - possession of a deep and wide knowledge of the implementation of the fundamental principles of radiological  safety and radioactive waste management within the U.K. statutory framework. 

 PROFESSIONAL/EXTERNAL QUALIFICATIONS

Desirable – Graduate in Scientific subject, Chartered Radiation Protection Professional, Certified (or working towards) Radiation Protection Adviser (RPA) & Certified (or working towards) Radioactive Waste Adviser (RWA).

 MEMBERSHIPS

Essential - MSRP / CRadP

Technical Skills

We’ll assess you against these technical skills during the selection process:

Nuclear Competence 1.4 - Radiation Protection

Nuclear Competence 2.3 - Management of the Nuclear Transportation programme

Nuclear Competence 3.3 – Nuclear Emergency Response Events, Demonstrations and Exercises

Nuclear Competence 7.3 - Management and Disposal of Radioactive Waste and the Management of Radioactive Discharges

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £73,512, Ministry of Defence contributes £19,848 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

Things you need to know

Selection process details

This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours, Experience and Technical skills.

This vacancy will use a CV, Statement of Suitability, Technical Assessment and Success Profiles to assess your Behaviours, Technical Competence and Experience for the role.

Applicants are required to provide a personal statement which should include details of previous skills or experience relevant to the role.

A CV will be required for this position, this cannot be uploaded to the advert. You will submit using the CV template provided on the CS Jobs dashboard, detailing job history, full qualifications, previous experience and skills.

As a result of the changes to the UK immigration rules which came into effect on 1 January 2021, the Ministry of Defence will only offer sponsorship for a skilled worker visa under the points-based system, where a role has been deemed to be business critical.  

The role currently being advertised has not been assessed as business critical and is therefore NOT open to applications from those who will require sponsorship under the points-based system. Should you apply for this role and be found to require sponsorship, your application will be rejected, and any provisional offer of employment withdrawn.  

MOD Recruitment Satisfaction Survey – we may contact you regarding your experience to help us improve our customer satisfaction. The survey is voluntary and anonymous. You may however be given the opportunity to provide additional information to help us improve our service which includes the collection of some personal data as defined by the United Kingdom General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR). The MOD Privacy Notice sets out how we will use your personal data and your rights. 

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check. Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is security check (opens in a new window).

See our vetting charter (opens in a new window). People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.

Nationality requirements

This job is broadly open to the following groups:

• UK nationals
• nationals of the Republic of Ireland
• nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
• individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
• Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service

Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window)

Working for the Civil Service

The Civil Service Code (opens in a new window) sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.

We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles (opens in a new window). The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria. The Civil Service also offers a Redeployment Interview Scheme to civil servants who are at risk of redundancy, and who meet the minimum requirements for the advertised vacancy.