Summer internship with EDF Energy Nuclear Generation

Laura Heathcote (MSci Natural Sciences, 3rd year) recently completed the second of her summer internships with EDF Energy Nuclear Generation. Here, she writes about her experiences on this programme.

My first internship (Summer 2017) was at EDF’s main office in Barnwood; the second (Summer 2018) was at Dungeness B Nuclear Power Station in Kent. I was at Dungeness B for a total of 3 months where I worked in their Environmental Safety Group. Their main role is in dealing with discharges, whether they are solid, liquid or gaseous, looking at both their radioactive and other hazardous aspects. I worked mostly with solid waste, dealing with all the waste documented in their Radiation Controlled Area and identifying what disposal routes were available. I was directly involved in organising a consignment of almost 60 drums including performing an activity assessment and packing plan. The year before at Barnwood, I had completed a technical specification that was sent out to companies to ask for a suitable disposal route for waste that was difficult to dispose of due to its oil content.

The department I worked in also deals with hazardous and conventional waste and gaseous discharges. The gaseous discharges must be closely monitored to ensure they don’t release more than they are allowed to of each chemical in a year. One person’s job was environmental compliance coordinator and his role was to ensure that we were abiding by all of the relevant environmental regulations. At one point during the summer, a seal was sucked in through the sea water inlet and it took a whole week to remove it safely. I found the internship at Dungeness B through a contact at my internship the year before with EDF Energy, but my first internship was applied for via the job site Gradcracker that is tailored specifically to science and maths-related jobs and internships.