Overview
Chemistry Industrial Placement – Leiston, UK
At EDF, Success is Personal. We don’t define it, you do. Join our Chemistry Industrial Placement and you’ll shape your future while helping Britain achieve net zero. You’ll take on real responsibilities, learn from experienced professionals, and contribute to meaningful projects at one of our operational nuclear sites.
“Electricity is such a vital component in everyone’s lives. It powers schools, businesses and hospitals, so I knew that if I did my placement within EDF then I would have a really large impact on society, and that made my placement a lot more fulfilling.” Priyanka, Science and Engineering Industrial Placement
The Opportunity
This 12-month placement offers a starting salary of £24,500 and the chance to work at our Sizewell B Power Station in Suffolk. You’ll join our Chemistry Programme, gaining hands-on experience in a junior role while being supported by skilled colleagues working on the UK’s only generating PWR station.
You’ll apply your academic knowledge to real-world challenges in the energy industry. From chemical safety and control to data automation and condition monitoring, this placement offers a wide range of learning opportunities that will help you grow professionally and personally.
What You’ll Be Doing
During your Chemistry Industrial Placement, you’ll continue work on projects that previous students have found rewarding. These include controlling system chemistry, automating data acquisition, supporting safety campaigns, and helping maintain condition monitoring programmes. There is opportunity to work with nuclear professionals to maintain the safe and efficient operation of various plant systems such as (but not limited to!) ion exchange water treatment and polishing plants, turbo-generator protection chemistry, seawater electrochlorination, nuclear reactor chemistry, and nuclear fuel storage.
You will develop your technical skills by using a wide array of analytical equipment and skills such as auto-titrators, viscometers, Karl Fischer titrations, particle counters, gas chromatography, ICP-OES, spectrophotometry, and ion chromatography (IC – a form of HPLC) to detect impurities in high purity systems. Your knowledge will be applied in assisting in the detection of both chronic and acute faults on nuclear, secondary, and ancillary systems as well as their resolution.
You’ll be part of a collaborative team, applying your chemistry skills to practical challenges and gaining insight into the operations of a nuclear power station. This is a chance to build your confidence, develop technical expertise, and make a real impact.
Your Work Location
You’ll be based at our Sizewell B (SZB) Power Station in Suffolk, where you’ll work on site and connect with colleagues across the business. There is nominally a 50:50 split between working at your desktop and in field – in a laboratory or on the plant itself, this ratio can change based on your preference and the work you choose to do.
Who You Are
To be eligible for this EDF industrial placement you should be on track to achieve, or have already achieved, a 2:2 undergraduate or postgraduate degree in Chemistry.
Our selection process is designed to bring out the best in you. We use a strengths-based approach, allowing you to showcase your skills and what truly motivates you. We believe that focusing on individual strengths is key to engagement, motivation, and success in the workplace.
At EDF we work hard to maintain a culture where Everyone’s Welcome. We encourage and embrace diversity and how it can improve our experience and performance at work. It is nevertheless a requirement that those who join us have the right to work in the UK. Whilst sponsorship may be a possibility, we reserve the right in our decisions to give priority to those who already have the right to work in the UK.
Security Vetting
To be appointed to this role, you will need to meet the criteria for Security Vetting, which will, ordinarily, require you to have been a resident of the UK for at least three of the past five years.
Pay, Benefits and Culture
Alongside a starting salary of £24,500 per annum and a market-leading pension scheme, your package will include customisable benefits such as electric vehicle leasing, discounted gym membership, life assurance, tech vouchers, experience days, and more.
At EDF, we believe there are multiple definitions of what it means to succeed. That’s why we offer you the freedom to develop a career that’s unique to you. Here, Success is Personal – it’s your journey, powered by us. As a Disability Confident employer, we will support applicants requiring adjustments.
We anticipate significant interest in this industrial placement scheme – so please don’t delay, apply today! Join us and find your success at EDF!
We’re proud to share that in our last recruitment cycle, we received nearly 32,000 applications across our early career’s programmes. While this means the process is highly competitive, please don’t be discouraged if you’re not successful this time. Every single application is carefully reviewed by a real person who values the effort you put in.
#SuccessIsPersonal #EDFCareers #DestinationNuclear #LI-Onsite
Success is personal. It’s your journey, powered by us. Join us and we’ll help Britain achieve Net Zero together.
