Answer to Question #3994 Submitted to "Ask the Experts"

I was a Navy engineering laboratory technician and got out of the field to drive a truck for 10 years. I want to get back into health physics. What steps (training, liscensing, etc.) would I need to accomplish this?

You have a wonderful opportunity. Navy engineering laboratory technician (ELT) training is well regarded throughout the nuclear industry. You could probably enter the health physics work force as a health physics technician without any extra training. There is currently a tremendous demand for health physics technicians throughout the industry that is by and large going unfilled. However, a more pertinent question for you is at what level of work do you want to be employed? As mentioned, the level of technician is wide open to someone with your present level of experience. However, you would not be eligible for many professional-level jobs available throughout the nuclear industry without at least a bachelor’s degree.

It has been my experience that folks who were successful in the United States Navy ELT program are pretty much uniformly smart and hard working. It is hard to make generalizations about groups of individuals and I don't make such a statement frivolously. However, Navy training is limited to that information which is necessary to function as a fleet sailor with defined responsibility over a pretty small, closed, well-engineered system. Individuals with such experience may find great benefit in taking the opportunity to further their educational experience. I say opportunity because they might take advantage of the GI bill or they might find work/study opportunities around most large universities working with a radiation safety program.

I have had many former ELTs in my undergraduate and graduate radiation physics courses. They usually do well, partly because they are well disciplined, a bit more mature than the typical traditional student, and partly because they have had experiences that help them relate things discussed in the classroom to actual practice.

All the Navy ELTs who have taken such university courses report that they have gained a detailed understanding over the topics of radiation physics that were not provided by the Navy. This does not mean the Navy program is bad, on the contrary, it is an excellent program. But, its focus is limited to what the Navy needs folks to know. Those individuals who have pursued advanced degrees and have taken the time to learn the details and many nuances of internal and external dosimetry, radiation biology, nuclear instrumentation, and a host of ancillary courses including calculus and statistics drive up their own stock considerably. Advanced-degree programs provide many benefits, like opportunities to enhance your written and oral communication skills, which will be necessary if you are to succeed as a professional in health physics.

My answer to your question can be summarized in a few sentences. You have everything you need to enter and succeed in a very lucrative level of the health physics profession as a technician. If you have higher aspirations, that is to say if you want to become a mover and a shaker in a profession which is greatly in need of new young folks, than I strongly encourage you to go back to school and obtain at least a BS in health physics and perhaps even an MS in health physics. This investment in your time will be well worth the effort. I suspect that if you look into it a bit, you will find the resources to further your education are easily attainable and will be sufficient to support you and even your family if you can live in a fiscally conservative fashion for a few years.

Richard R. Brey, PhD, CHP