TITLE: Senior Engineer, Nuclear Fuel Methods

LOCATION: Bellevue, WA, USA

TerraPower is a nuclear technology company based in Bellevue, Washington. At its core, the company is working to raise living standards globally through a more affordable, secure and environmentally friendly form of nuclear energy along with innovations in medical isotopes to improve human health. In 2006, TerraPower originated with Bill Gates and a group of like-minded visionaries who evaluated the fundamental challenges to raising living standards around the world. They recognized energy access was crucial to the health and economic well-being of communities and decided that the private sector needed to take action and create energy sources that would advance global energy deployment. TerraPower’s mission is to be a world leader in new nuclear technologies, while developing innovators and future leaders in the nuclear field. As a result, the company’s activities in the fields of nuclear energy and related sciences are yielding significant innovations in the safety and economics of nuclear power, hybrid energy and medical applications – all for significant human health benefits.

TerraPower is seeking to hire a highly motivated and forward-thinking professionals who are interested in focusing on advanced nuclear reactor research and development and influencing change within the nuclear power landscape and bringing forward the critical production of medical isotopes. TerraPower is an Equal Opportunity Employer. We do not discriminate in hiring on the basis of sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, race, color, religious creed, national origin, physical or mental disability, protected Veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state, or local law. In addition, TerraPower has instituted an Affirmative Action Plan (AAP) in an effort to proactively recruit, hire, and promote women, minorities, disabled persons and veterans.

Senior Engineer, Nuclear Fuel Methods

TerraPower, LLC is seeking a highly motivated Senior Engineer to support the nuclear fuel performance team. In this role you will contribute to the development, testing, implementation, and maintenance of methods and software for analysis of performance of nuclear fuel for sodium cooled fast reactors.

Responsibilities

• Create formal documentation of nuclear fuels methods software requirements, design, implementation, and testing in support of licensing TerraPower reactors.
• Update, improve, and/or create software to satisfy all licensing requirements during the Validation and Verification (V&V) process.
• Perform thermo-mechanical analysis of fuel rods and other sodium fast reactor core components for:
  Irradiation testing for Design of Experiments and post-irradiation examination (PIE) analysis
• Core design
• Code benchmarking and V&V
• Document results of thermo-mechanical analyses in the form of engineering reports, engineering calculations, test plans, etc.
• Design and execute sensitivity studies to understand the effects and validity of various modeling assumptions, including meshing, physics coupling, material models, and design tolerances.
• Train and support reactor designers and developers in the use of the design software suite.
• Support software and document reviews in areas of fuel performance modeling, fuel performance, or other areas of subject expertise.
• Build and apply methods to assess the propagation of uncertainty and their effect on safety margins.
• Enhance engineering team's ability to build models and make meaningful conclusions from simulation output through input tools, visualization, reports, etc.

Key Qualifications and Skills

• Advanced degree in Nuclear, Mechanical, or Materials Engineering or equivalent and 4+ years of relevant experience preferred
• A minimum of 2 years of experience with software development in scientific computing
• Fast reactor physics and design intuition
• Experience in understanding and executing nuclear design and analysis methodologies ideally with a focus on fast-neutron reactors
• Excellent “under-the-hood” knowledge of the methods of reactor physics analysis, finite element models, constitutive material models
• Experience in performing design activities to applicable requirements such as NQA-1, ASME B&PV, AWS, 10 CFR 50, Appendix B, or equivalent
• Experience with nuclear engineering software such as DIF3D, MC2, PARTISN, MCNP, Serpent, SCALE, PARCS, APA, CASMO, DRAGON, ARMI, etc. preferred
• Strong programming skills in any language required. Preferred programming language experience with Python and Fortran
• Experience using ABAQUS, ANSYS, COMSOL, MOOSE, or an equivalent finite element analysis (FEA) code
• Proven ability to integrate and automate simulation tools
• Demonstrable capabilities with fundamental software development tools (e.g. IDEs, version control, profilers, debuggers, documentation builders, packaging tools)
• Experience interacting on nuclear methodology with the NRC under an ASME NQA-1 compliant QA environment preferred
• Good working knowledge of general numerical methods and applied mathematics (e.g. PDEs, numerical stability, statistics, numerical analysis, dynamics)
• Strong formal technical documentation skills required
• Ability to consistently deliver to an aggressive schedule
• Self-motivated: able to seek out tasks and produce value aligned with team goals without waiting for next assignment
• Passion for and dedication to software best practices
• Willingness to openly give and accept professional criticism through code reviews and other venues
• Strong verbal communication skills desired
• The successful candidate will possess a high degree of trust and integrity, communicate openly and display respect, and a desire to foster teamwork

Job Functions

Job Functions are physical actions and/or working conditions associated with the position. These functions may also constitute essential functions for the job which the employee must be able to fulfill, with or without accommodation. Information provided below is to help describe the job so that the applicant has a reasonable understanding of the job duties/expectations. An applicant's ability to perform and/or tolerate these actions and conditions will be discussed and workplace accommodations may be made on a case-by-case basis following an individualized assessment of the applicant and other considerations, including but not limited to any governing safety standards.

• Motor Abilities: Sitting and/or standing for extended periods, bending/stooping, grasping/gripping, fine motor control (hands)
• Physical exertion and/or requirements: Minimal, with ability to safely lift up to 25 pounds
• Repetitive work: Prolonged
• Special Senses: Visual and audio focused work
• Work Conditions: Stairs, typing/keyboard, standard and/or sitting working environment of >8 hrs./day
• Travel required: 0-5%

TerraPower’s technology is controlled for export by various agencies of the U.S. Government. TerraPower must evaluate applicants who are foreign nationals (other than asylees, refugees, or lawful permanent residents) in accordance with U.S. Government export control requirements. To facilitate TerraPower’s export control reviews, you will be asked as part of the application process to identify whether you are a U.S. Citizen or national, asylee, refugee, or lawful permanent resident of the United States. Government export authorization approval times vary. Based on the business needs for a particular position, TerraPower may not consider a foreign national from a country if it is impracticable to obtain timely Government export approval.

Job details

Salary Range Level 10: $109,446 - $164,170

*Typically, our employee salaries are within .90 – 1.0 of the mid-point of the posted salary band. Any salary offered within the posted salary band is based on market data and commensurate with the selected individual’s qualifications and experience. This range is specific to Washington State.

Job Type: Full-time

• Benefits:
• Competitive Compensation
• Salary, eligible to participate in discretionary short-term incentive payments
• Comprehensive Medical and Wellness Benefits Medical
• Vision
• Dental
• Life
• Life and Disability
• Gender Affirmation Benefits
• Parental Leave
• 401k Plan
• Generous Paid Time Off (PTO)
• 21 days of annually accrued PTO
• Generous Holiday Schedule
• 10 paid holidays
• Relocation Assistance
• Professional and Educational Support Opportunities
• Flexible Work Schedule

TerraPower Career and Benefits information: https://www.terrapower.com/contact-us/careers/

Please visit www.terrapower.com to apply