Summer jobs in Olkiluoto give trainees learning and experience

Three trainees whose summer jobs were related to their line of studies tell us about their summer in Olkiluoto: Noora Tallila from Rauma, and Milla Jakonen and Kalle Rahkola from Pori.

TVO has already for 14 years organised science camps for pupils from the lower level of comprehensive school, and has in this connection provided summer trainee jobs for students of natural sciences and teaching. The science camp instructors of the Society Unit were Noora Tallila who studies at Turku University to become a primary school teacher, and mathematics teacher student Milla Jakonen from Joensuu University. Their job in the one-week long Olkiluoto science day camps was to get a total of 80 children interested in science through electrical work experiments and studies of chemical reactions. About fifteen different work projects were completed during each camp. – On electricity days the kids were introduced to current circuits, electricity and magnetism by means of a styrofoam saw and an electric motor, and other interesting experiments. The campers were also shown the equipment used by the Olkiluoto fire brigade, and they raced wooden cars, Noora Tallila and Milla Jakonen describe the camps.

The job as a science camp instructor was for both Noora and Milla the first job in which they were in charge of everything from the start till the end. The job taught them responsibility and overall management. – The instructor job at the science camp has offered a good opportunity to develop as an educator and pedagogue. Teacher students rarely find summer jobs in their own profession, as the schools are closed. Our work tasks in the science camps and instructing children compare well to the school world, and we both have already two summers' worth of valuable experience from the camps, they explain.

The duties of the young ladies during the summer included advance arrangements for the camps as well as instructor duties, but also participation in visitor activities. – Work at TVO has been diverse and meaningful. It has been interesting to work in a large organisation in cooperation with different parties, they say.

Geology student Kalle Rahkola spent his summer between rock and a hard place in the underground ONKALO facility for the second summer in a row. – Assisting in surveying was only one of my duties – I spend the majority of my time in the office sitting at a computer. At Posiva, I have had an opportunity to take advantage of many of the various skills I've learned at the university: for example, I have studied microsections of Olkiluoto rocks with a microscope, created 3D models with modelling software and reviewed reference lists for publications, he tells.

The geology curriculum at Turku University correlates well with Rahkola's work duties. He got his first job at Posiva as a summer trainee after attending a course taught by his current Supervisor, but having worked previously on the OL3 worksite, Olkiluoto was already familiar to him. – The trainee job at Posiva is my first experience of working as a geologist. Although I originally picked my field of study more by chance than after long deliberation, I have enjoyed geology both at the University and at work. This field is a combination of practical work and theory that suits me well. Geology is also in many ways a multidisciplinary science and the knowledge and skills that we learn in our minor subjects are also useful both at work and at school, Kalle Rahkola says.

In addition to their own jobs, summer trainees are also provided training in the practices followed in Olkiluoto. Trainees who work in Olkiluoto for the first time are introduced to the operation of TVO and Posiva, and given information related to human resources, occupational health and safety, information security as well as the environment.

Induction training in environmental issues took place in field conditions on a sunny day. Mr. Ari Nurmi from the fire brigade of Olkiluoto presented equipment and methods used to contain oil and chemical spills, the spill prevention equipment of the fire brigade and the spill containment booms laid down in sea areas in case of accidents. The trainees also had an opportunity to try their hands on absorbing oil from the floor of a warehouse.

The summer trainees also studied all the different waste types collected in Olkiluoto at the waste collection point, and were then taught how to correctly sort and dispose of the wastes. They participated in a practical exercise where they had to sort wastes into appropriate collection containers as recyclable waste, landfill waste and hazardous waste.