Radiological controls coordinatorSalary, qualifications, career path and hiring demand, 2026 edition
A radiological controls coordinator plans the radiological side of work before it starts: writing the permits that set the conditions for a job, working out how it can be done for less radiation exposures, arranging the monitoring coverage it needs, and making sure the plan reaching the workface is one that can actually be followed. This role is essential in delivering radiological services and ensuring compliance with safety protocols and regulatory standards. It is the planning tier of radiation safety and radiological science.
Radiological controls coordinators earn a median of around $109,000 in the United States and roughly £52,000–£68,000 when established in the UK, rising past £94,000 as a senior coordinator. This reflects the highest standards of compensation in the field, considering regulatory compliance and radiological training requirements.
No bachelor's degree is required. What gates the work is radiological experience plus planning capability: employer training, site qualification, security clearance, and permits that have worked in practice. The position requires a working knowledge of ionizing radiation, health physics, and access controls to ensure utmost protection and prioritizing safety in all procedures.
The role at a glance
Everything an employer will ask about in the first fifteen minutes of a screening call.
- Also called
- RWP coordinator · radiological work planner · ALARA coordinator · rad con coordinator · RP planner
- Entry qualification
- No degree required. Radiological protection technician experience is the usual foundation, with planning capability developed on the job.
- Typical entry pay
- $76,000–$94,000 (US) · £34,000–£44,000 (UK entry)
- Senior pay
- $145,000–$168,000 (US) · £74,000–£94,000 (UK senior coordinator)
- Contract day rates
- £420–£580 for radiological controls coordination; £520–£720 for outage planning and decommissioning campaign coordination outside IR35; $78–$135/hr on US coordination support
- Professional gate
- No licence. Site qualification and permit-writing authority are the practical gates, and both are site-specific.
- Security
- UK BPSS minimum, SC common. US: unescorted access authorisation under 10 CFR 73.
- Where the work sits
- Operating licensees, decommissioning contractors and fuel-cycle operators. Site-based, split between the planning office and the plant.
- Travel
- Moderate. Site-based, with outage and campaign work sometimes meaning travel and living away.
- TRX segments
- Decommissioning & dismantling · Operating fleet · Fuel handling & fuel cycle · Radioactive waste management · Large new build · Nuclear medicine
Six versions of the same job title
"Radiological controls coordinator" changes with the work being planned: routine maintenance at an operating station, a major outage with hundreds of jobs running concurrently, or a decommissioning campaign where nobody has done the task before. Note the top segment: decommissioning generates the most planning-intensive work. Bar shows relative hiring volume across TRX's 2026 desk activity.
Decommissioning & dismantling
Planning radiological controls for dismantling: permits for novel tasks, ALARA planning where conditions are uncertain, and coordinating coverage across multiple work fronts. Sellafield, Magnox fleet, Dounreay.
Operating fleet
Planning for maintenance and outage work: writing and maintaining radiation work permits, ALARA reviews for high-dose jobs, and coordinating RP coverage across an outage running hundreds of concurrent activities. US fleet, EDF UK fleet.
Fuel handling & fuel cycle
Coordination at fuel-cycle facilities, where contamination risk is continuous and permits must address airborne hazards and containment as routine features rather than exceptions.
Radioactive waste management
Planning radiological controls for waste handling, treatment and packaging operations, including movements and consignment activities.
Large new build
Establishing permit systems and radiological work planning arrangements before a new plant begins radiological operations. Hinkley Point C, Sizewell C.
Nuclear medicine
Coordination of radiological work in medical and research settings, including planning for maintenance and decommissioning of isotope facilities.
What the week actually looks like
A composite day for a radiological controls coordinator at an operating station or decommissioning site. Split between the planning office and the plant. Outages transform the role into continuous high-volume planning — noted below.
What radiological controls coordinators are paid in 2026
Bars show the 25th to 90th percentile of base salary. The vertical marker is the median. Switch currency to move between the US and UK markets — they behave differently, and the shapes tell you why.
How coordination compares to adjacent roles
US national medians. The nuclear technician median is BLS OEWS May 2025; the specialism ranges are TRX market analysis.
| Occupation | Median | P10 | P90 | What moves the number |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Radiological controls coordinator | $109,000 | $76,000 | $168,000 | Outage planning, campaign coordination, ALARA depth, clearance |
| Nuclear technicians (all industries) | $101,740 | $68,000 | $145,000+ | Coordination sits above the technician grade on planning content |
| Radiological protection technician | $95,000 | $62,000 | $148,000 | The coverage grade this role plans for |
| Radiation protection supervisor (RPS) | $106,000 | $74,000 | $162,000 | The supervisory appointment overseeing work in progress |
Sources: US BLS OEWS May 2025 for the coded occupations; TRX market analysis Q3 2026 for the specialism ranges. This sits alongside the RPS appointment in seniority but faces a different direction: coordination plans work before it starts, while supervision oversees it while it happens.
Outage planning
Coordinating radiological controls across an outage running hundreds of concurrent jobs is intense, high-volume work with a hard deadline.
Decommissioning campaign coordination
Planning first-of-a-kind tasks where there is no previous permit to work from is considerably harder than repeat work.
Complex ALARA planning
Coordinators who genuinely reduce job dose, rather than documenting the plan, deliver measurable value and are recognised for it.
Three ways in, and one of them is open to everyone
Coordination is reached from radiological protection technician work, and it suits people who like planning and organising more than continuous plant coverage. No degree is required.
From technician, United Kingdom
Four years to eight years.
US route
Four to eight years.
Career changer
Twelve months to three years, via the radiological protection technician route.
Are you actually ready to compete for a coordination role?
Everything above tells you what the market pays and what it asks for. It does not tell you how your CV reads against the other candidates applying for the same coordination post, and in a field where outage experience and ALARA results decide offers, that is the part that costs candidates the job.
Free resume scoring on avua, TRX's job search and application platform. Your score is yours — it is not shared with employers.A strong technician CV can still miss the shortlist if it does not show permit writing or ALARA planning results. The gap is the part you can fix.
Illustrative figures based on TRX shortlisting patterns across coordination vacancies. Your own score is generated by avua from your CV and the role you are targeting.
The credentials that actually let you coordinate radiological work
Gated by site qualification and permit-writing authority, both of which are site-specific and non-transferable.
| Credential | Jurisdiction | Required for | Time | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| RP technician qualification | All | The foundation | 1–3 yrs | Understanding coverage before planning it. |
| Permit-writing authority | All | Issuing work permits independently | Role-specific | Site-assessed; the practical gate on the role. |
| Site qualification | All | Working unsupervised | 6–18 months | Site-specific and not fully portable. |
| ALARA planning competence | All | Dose reduction planning | Months–years | What distinguishes a coordinator from a permit administrator. |
| Unescorted access authorisation | United States | Plant walkdowns and job planning | 4–10 wk | 10 CFR 73 background check. |
| Classified worker status | UK | Controlled area access | Weeks | Medical surveillance and dose monitoring. |
| Work management systems | All | Permit and planning systems | Weeks | Site-specific planning and permit software. |
| BPSS / SC clearance | UK | Site access | 2–20 wk | SC is common on licensed sites. |
Permit-writing authority and site qualification do not transfer between employers. Confirm what would need requalifying before assuming a move is straightforward.
What appears on a 2026 coordination shortlist
Drawn from the radiological controls requirement specifications TRX has worked in the last twelve months. Ordered by how often a hiring manager treats it as a hard filter rather than a nice-to-have.
Named on the specification
- Radiation work permits — Writing, issuing and maintaining them
- ALARA planning — Designing work to deliver less dose
- Radiological conditions — Interpreting survey data into job conditions
- Work planning — Sequencing, resourcing and scheduling radiological work
- Coverage coordination — Allocating technician resource across jobs
- Plant knowledge — Knowing the areas jobs will actually take place in
What decides between two shortlisted candidates
- Outage planning — High volume, concurrent jobs, immovable deadlines
- First-of-a-kind planning — Decommissioning tasks with no precedent
- Demonstrated dose reduction — Jobs that came in below their dose estimate
- Pre-job briefing — Getting the plan understood by the people doing the work
- Writing — Permits must be unambiguous to people reading them in a hurry
- Credibility with crews — Plans people accept rather than work around
The 2026 demand map
Coordination demand tracks the volume of radiological work being planned, which peaks during outages and runs continuously in decommissioning. Site-based.
| Programme | Location | Phase in 2026 | Engineering demand |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sellafield & NDA estate | Cumbria, UK | Decommissioning | Very high; first-of-a-kind work needing individual planning |
| US operating fleet | Nationwide | Operations and outages | Very high; outage planning drives sharp seasonal demand |
| EDF UK fleet | UK | Operations and outages | Continuous planning and outage coordination |
| Fuel-cycle facilities | Global | Operations | Continuous permit and coordination workload |
| Outage contractors | US & global | Seasonal peaks | Coordination roles alongside technician coverage |
| DOE site programmes | US | Cleanup | Large campaign planning demand |
| Magnox and Dounreay | UK | Decommissioning | Campaign coordination |
| Waste facilities | UK & global | Operations | Handling and movement planning |
| Hinkley Point C | Somerset, UK | Toward operations | Establishing permit systems |
| Nuclear medicine | Global | Ongoing | Smaller parallel market |
Programme phases move, and outage schedules drive sharp seasonal demand. Confirm current status before making a relocation decision; TRX tracks these weekly.
Decommissioning plans every radiological job from scratch
An operating station repeats much of its work outage after outage, so radiation work permits can be refined and reused. Decommissioning rarely can: each retrieval, cut and removal is different, radiological conditions are uncertain, and the radiological controls plan has to be built from first principles every time. That makes planning effort per job far higher across the NDA estate, and it is why decommissioning is the largest employer of radiological controls coordination capability in the UK.
Why skilled radiological controls coordinators are scarce
The role requires technician-level radiological protection understanding plus genuine radiological work planning capability, and many strong radiation protection technicians do not want a planning role while many planners lack the radiological grounding. That combination is uncommon, and with decommissioning expanding and outage programmes competing for the same radiological controls coordinators each season, experienced coordinators are consistently sought.
Adjacent and onward roles
Coordination sits between the technician grade and the supervisory and professional routes. These are the moves TRX sees most often.
Questions we get asked every week
How much does a radiological controls coordinator earn in 2026?
In the United States the market runs from about $76,000 for a trainee to $109,000 at the median, with lead coordinators past $168,000. In the UK, established coordinators earn £52,000–£68,000, rising past £94,000 at senior level.
Outage and campaign premiums add on top, and contract coordinators bill £520–£720 a day outside IR35 for outage and decommissioning work.
Do you need qualifications to be a radiological controls coordinator?
No formal degree is required. What qualifies you for the role is radiological protection (RP) technician certification as a foundation, site-specific permit-writing authority, and comprehensive site qualification.
These credentials are essential and generally non-transferable between different nuclear facilities or employers.
Can you become a coordinator without a nuclear background?
Not directly, in most cases. The role depends on understanding radiological conditions, radiation safety protocols, and health physics principles well enough to establish permit conditions, which normally means entering as a radiological protection (RP) technician first.
Work planners from other industries bring transferable project planning and radiation protection skills, but they need the radiological safety experience and regulatory compliance expertise before they can write permits credibly and ensure adherence to federal and industry safety standards.
Is radiological controls coordination a good career in 2026?
It is a solid step up from the technician grade with strong demand, particularly across decommissioning where every job needs planning from scratch, and it suits people who prefer planning to continuous plant coverage.
The honest caveat: it sits below the professional radiological roles in pay and standing, it is site-based, and outage periods are intense with immovable deadlines.
What is the difference between a coordinator and a radiation protection supervisor?
A radiological controls coordinator plans work before it starts: writing permits, setting conditions, planning for dose reduction and arranging coverage. A radiation protection supervisor is appointed to oversee work while it is happening, ensuring local rules are followed and intervening when they are not.
Put simply, one plans the job and the other supervises it. They sit at similar levels and many people do both across a career, but coordination is a planning function facing forward while supervision is an appointed oversight function operating in real time.
Which coordination skills are most in demand in 2026?
Outage planning leads, because nuclear power plants need high-volume radiation work permit and radiological coverage coordination during short, intense operational periods. Close behind is first-of-a-kind decommissioning campaign planning and proven dose reduction through ALARA radiation safety strategies.
Permit writing, ALARA dose optimization, and interpreting radiological survey data accurately are the near-universal essential skills for radiological controls coordinators in nuclear energy facilities.
We only recruit in nuclear. That is the whole point.
TRX works across large new build, fusion, new technology development, decommissioning, radioactive waste management and nuclear medicine, in 14+ countries. Send us your CV and we will tell you honestly which path your experience actually fits, and what it is worth.