When it came time to choose a career path ahead of beginning her university studies in Pretoria, South Africa, Annelize Van Rooyen used the Doctor Doolittle method.
“I went eenie-meenie-miney-moe … and my finger landed on nuclear technology.”
From this unlikely beginning, Annelize found a lifetime vocation. And like the original Doolittle method, her career choice took her far away – to Australia, where she is now Tellus’ Principal Radiation Specialist.
But that was many years later. Following graduation, Annelize built a career in radiation safety, decommissioning and waste management.
In the late 1990s, she joined Necsa – the South African Nuclear Energy Corporation – and her focus shifted to South Africa’s research reactor, where she was responsible for fuel and core management.
Annelize’s heart had always been in research. In the first decade of the century she moved to PBMR, a South African company developing an innovative “pebble bed” modular reactor.
“I started as a training developer, writing the training materials for the reactor operators. They found out that I had a background in radiation safety and asked me to join the engineering team to provide advice on the radiation safety aspects of the design, operation and maintenance of the various reactor systems.”
But when funding for PBMR was withdrawn in 2010, Annelize accepted a similar role at ANSTO, in Sydney, doing radiation safety assessments and providing advice for new facilities and modifications such as the replacement cyclotron at Camperdown. She also worked on projects such as Synroc and the decommissioning of Australia’s first nuclear reactor, HIFAR, which operated at Lucas Heights between 1958 and 2007.
After ANSTO, Annelize spent close to a decade as a radiation adviser and consultant in mining, industry and the oil and gas sector — until Tellus came knocking in 2019.
Originally, she was with the sales team, working with both regulators and clients on the safe movement of waste to Sandy Ridge. In 2021, she was asked to take on the role of radiation safety officer for Sandy Ridge. In this role she is responsible for managing the radiation safety processes for site. This includes not only the safe handling of incoming radioactive waste through to its safe placement under the Tellus air dome, but also responsibility for the safety of personnel and the environment on the Sandy Ridge site.
“It’s very diverse. Due to the inherent nature of what we deal with, we sometimes receive some pure sources with no other contaminants, but often we end up with a bag of ‘mixed lollies’ instead.
“To be able to dispose of radioactive waste safely and permanently is a real achievement, because it remains a big problem in a lot of countries around the world.
“In the rest of the world, it’s a process that can take decades to complete. The fact we were able to get such timely approvals from the regulators is very exciting.”
The image shows Annelize checking for contamination at the Koeberg Power Station, South Africa, 2008