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ATC sets up to train students in radiologic control
7/24/2008 11:01 PM   1 comment(s) on this story E-mail this story to a friend



By ROB NOVIT

Senior writer

Next month Aiken Technical College will become just the sixth college in the nation to offer certificates and associate degrees in radiologic control - and not a moment too soon.

"I wish we had them today," said Jim Stafford, the Savannah River Site's radiation protection manager. "At SRS we could take as many graduates as they could turn out. Other companies also have an ongoing need."

That demand has been created by pending retirements and the resurgence of the the nuclear industry - new reactor programs and new projects at the site. Stafford chairs an advisory board in the CSRA and serves on a national U.S. Department of Energy board - both specifically looking at the need for these technicians.

They have a variety of names - radiologic technicians or radcon technicians - but they all do the same thing, providing support and safety for other staffers who work on various nuclear components. That can include radiation source storage and hospitals with X-ray machines, said Tracy Pierner, Aiken Technical College's dean of technical education.

SRS has about 400 people on site in this capacity, and the majority will retire in the next five to 10 years, said Stafford, who at 52 has worked at SRS for 30 years.

ATC is seeking a full-time instructor for program. Wade Miller, a senior health physicist at SRS, and U.S. Army Col. Walt Loring at Ft. Gordon will serve as adjunct instructors.

The coursework will begin with the certificate courses. The technical college expects to offer in August 2009 an associate's degree in industrial technology with a major in radiation protection technology. The certificate class will required 29 credits and nine courses, while the associate degree will require 68 credits. All of the certificate courses will roll over to the associate degree.

Pierner said that students coming from high school or the workforce should consider the associate's degree.

The certificate program will be retained for those who already have a bachelor's degree in biology, chemistry or environmental science for an associate's degree related to the sciences, including nursing. In addition, students earning an associate's degree can, through a new program, "bridge" to various engineering programs at the University of South Carolina, S.C. State University and Francis Marion University.

ATC's involvement in radiologic control is nothing new. The college offered a degree program through the earlier part of this decade. Stafford served as an adjunct during the 1980s.

The number of radcon technicians numbered as many at 600 at SRS at one time. But layoffs of thousands of employees in the early 1990s led to decreased need at the time for additional personnel. The upcoming retirements are coming at a time when the MOX and salt waste processing facility projects will increase demand for such staffers.

Any 18-year-old or worker looking for a change should consider the radiologic control program, said Stafford.

"It's great money," he said. "It varies on where you work, but roughly, somebody coming out with a certificate will make $18-20 an hour. Most places after three years will pay $30 an hour. It's a white-collar job, but you get to work in the field, working side by side with mechanics."

To put the need in perspective, Pierner and Stafford said the local advisory board includes Jerry Hiatt, chief technical officer of Massachusetts-based Bartlett Industries, a major nuclear services company.

"We've had three meetings," said Stafford, "and Hiatt has made it to all of them."

Contact Rob Novit at rnovit@aikenstandard.com.


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  1 comment(s) on this story

aiken tech :  7/25/2008

Woman with a dream.. : 7/24/2008 I just been had to be face with the most hard decision of my life, to get a higher education or to work in order to survive. I am a single woman with no kids and I always wanted to have my degree by 30 years of age, guess what I will be 30 in some months and no degree. I am accepted in the radiology program at Aiken Tech. and I have this wonderful job that I asked to keep me on second shift in order for me to pursue my dream of becoming a Rad Tech.I decided to become a Rad Tech. after a miscarriage in 2004. My husband and I saw this baby that we created together, a life. I was drawn into the whole concept of life (growth) and the stages of different dieases in the body. I thought that maybe one day I would be able to comeup with a treatment or something. It's was brought to my attention that the clinical sites are not flexible. I asked to see if I can get off on Tuesday's and Thursday's from the clinical site 2 hrs. ealier and make it up on the weekends or/and on the breaks we have off each month. I was shot down with the idea. I came to a conclusion that maybe I won't have the chance to get that higher education that I promised my father and myself. I fought so hard to maintain a great gpa ( almost 4.0), I fought through losing my father that was so dear to me, divorce, almost losing my home, lost my job, grandmother having a heart attack and getting her legs removed. Through it all I strive to reach that goal I had set for myself. I studied hard and made good grades. I fought to get into that program with the grades that I earned through tears, headaches, sweat and all that pain. I got in I cried but I can't continue on my journy because I got to work. I don't have the luxery of a husband that can support me, or to live with my parents. I worked for years to have things, and I contiued putting a job before my goal. I vowed I wasn't going to do it again. Now that I realized after almost 3 years of attending Aiken Tech. that it's not sturctred for non-traditional students. They need to make it much easier for students as myself ( work full time ). More options should be enforced, Saturday schooling, more instructors, since working in an hospital different shifts to learn, and night classes. I think that if we are allowed to have a higher education, we will be a more productive individual and a happier community. I am stuck between a hard rock, by the rock is kind of tilting toward to continue working to pay my bills. The loans at Aiken Tech. is setup for to pay back the following month. They do not have Stafford Loans, No other scholarships to help non-traditional student w/o children. I am not trying to live off the government, and to pollute this world with children that I can not afford to take care of. I want to do the right thing and get an education first and then marriage, family. I want to continue on with the program b/c out of 70 people, only 11 people was chosen and I was among the pick. That was an accomplishment and now I have to STOP there, I will always have to work and to me that mean since I was told that I can not work in the program, I guess that I will never have the opportunity to finish the program. Talk To Me!!!!! desprite woman

love to get higher education
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