Band 3 Nuclear Safety Inspector – Electrical Engineering

ONR is not a Civil Service department, however, we are an arms length body of Department of Work and Pensions.

The Opportunity

As the UK’s independent nuclear regulator, our mission is vital to the nation’s safety and security. We protect society by securing safe operations at nuclear facilities across our nation.

This is an exciting role critical to the decarbonisation of the UK’s economy; our national defence; and the decommissioning of our nuclear legacy. A career with ONR will provide you with opportunity to lead and shape our society’s future use of nuclear technology.

The Role

As an inspector your job will be varied, and over time you are likely to undertake a range of roles across the sector; from regulating the construction of new nuclear build to the decommissioning of legacy facilities. For example, some inspectors will be undertaking planned and reactive inspections on existing nuclear facilities, while others will assess safety submissions for new build projects or manage targeted intervention projects. Additionally, there may be opportunities to conduct investigations, manage research projects and mentor and develop the next generation of inspectors.

As an electrical specialist inspector you will work on the assessment and inspection of the adequacy of the design, installation, commissioning, maintenance and operation of electrical engineering systems needed to meet requirements of providing energy to support the operation of safety and security systems. Whilst you will be expected to proactively progress your own work, you will be working within a strong team of electrical specialists whose knowledge and experience is extremely wide ranging and freely shared. Equally we expect you to share your own knowledge and experience to further enhance our technical and regulatory effectiveness.

The electrical specialism has a culture which values and encourages appropriate challenge as an important part of making robust decisions and increasing technical and regulatory capability at all levels. By being open minded and flexible, electrical specialists work together to embrace new approaches, situations, and technologies to make and articulate effective decisions based on logical principles, sometimes on seemingly intractable problems. This is a particularly rewarding part of the job and can lead to in-depth engagement with a wide range of stakeholders, including nuclear site licensees, professional institutions, other regulators, international standards-making bodies etc. to collaboratively develop standards and guidance.

Line Management Responsibilities

• None currently, however, at this level there could be an expectation to manage staff in the future.

Work with Us

Our colleagues are from all walks of life with varied personal experiences and career journeys into ONR. We want the best people for our roles. As an inclusive employer we value individuals’ contributions, regardless of their age, gender, race, ethnicity, disability, sexual orientation, social background, religion, or belief. Our values ‘supportive, open-minded, fair and accountable’ are central to this. We invest in our people to build capability, resilience, and promote wellbeing in our great teams, underpinned by our inherent focus on inclusion and excellence.’

Person Specification / What You’ll Need

Qualifications

We expect all Nuclear Safety Inspectors to have:

• Degree level qualification or equivalent in a subject appropriate to the specialism, or the ability to demonstrate performance and experience at an equivalent professional level;
• Chartered membership of a relevant professional institution, or the ability to demonstrate the performance and/or experience necessary to attain chartered membership.

Essential job related Technical Skills / Experience

• Knowledge of one or more nuclear / high hazard facilities, examples include: pressurised water reactors, advanced gas cooled reactors, high hazard processing plants etc;
• The ability to assimilate, analyse and provide judgements on new and complex technical issues, clearly and concisely;
• Strong communication, decision making and influencing skills. With the ability to see the bigger picture, targeting and prioritising work, based on risk.

We are looking for people with a specialist knowledge or experience in at least two of the following areas:

• The design of either diesel generator based or static uninterruptible power supplies (UPS) based high availability power supply systems;
• The performance of protection coordination and stability studies under faulted conditions of high availability power supply systems;
• Design, installation, commissioning, maintenance and operation of electrical power supply systems with high availability and high reliability;
• The deterministic and probabilistic failure analysis of high availability power supply systems used at nuclear or high hazard facilities;
• The design and implementation of condition monitoring schemes for electrical systems and equipment, such as rotating electrical plant and machinery used in nuclear or other high-hazard facilities / applications;
• An understanding of key issues in relation to effective management of ageing and obsolescence of electrical equipment used in high availability power supply systems.

We would ideally like you to have experience in the nuclear sector or alternative high hazard industry / highly regulated industry. But don’t worry if you don’t! We are happy to consider applicants with a non-nuclear/non-high hazard background who, if appointed, would undertake a structured nuclear training programme to reach Nuclear Safety Inspector level (subject to alternative salary range whilst training).

Inclusion

We are committed to being an inclusive employer and welcome applicants from all backgrounds. We will consider reasonable adjustments to ensure the recruitment process is inclusive and barrier-free. Please contact ONR.Human-Resources@onr.gov.uk/ or  07823741047 / 07786544762 to discuss further. We will also offer an interview to disabled people who meet the minimum criteria for applicants who opt into the guaranteed interview scheme.

We recognise we have a role to play in helping those leaving the Armed Forces and also have a Veterans guaranteed interview scheme. We offer an interview to Veterans who meet the minimum criteria for applicants who opt into the scheme. Please see eligibility criteria below;

• served for at least one year in His Majesty’s Armed Forces (as a Regular or Reserve);
• be in transition from, or ceased to be a member of, His Majesty’s Armed Forces;
• not already be employed by ONR.

Security Clearance

The successful candidate must hold or can achieve and retain National Security Vetting clearance at SC level.

Location / Travel

This post may be undertaken from a base at any one of ONR’s office locations (Bootle, Cheltenham, or London).

This post requires some travel including overnight stays predominantly across the United Kingdom and occasionally abroad.

The successful applicant requires a full driving licence which permits the holder to drive in the UK unless reasonable adjustments can be made under the Equality Act 2010

ONR operates hybrid working (working in the office and / or at home) as part of our flexible working policy. There is an expectation that everyone will spend some time in the office on a regular basis, recognising that some work is better done face to face. Managers will collaborate with their teams on what works best to meet individual, team, business and organisational needs to enable collaboration, as well as balancing personal choice and wellbeing.

An annual leave allowance of 25 plus 8 days public holiday. There is also an entitlement to 1 privilege day. Your annual leave allowance will increase by 1 day each year up to a maximum of 30 days.

• Learning and development tailored to your role
• An environment with flexible working options
• A culture encouraging inclusion and diversity 
• A civil service pension 

Job contact :

• Name : Andrew White
• Email : andrew.white@onr.gov.uk
• Telephone : +447795451914

Recruitment team

• Email : ONR.Human-Resources@onr.gov.uk