Job Title: Senior Engineer, Fuel Performance and Development

Type: Contract (yearlong) typically extends on a yearly basis.
Compensation: $54 - $90 hourly
Contractor Work Model: Remote

System One is seeking a highly motivated Senior Engineer to support our client’s Nuclear Fuel Development and Qualification team. In this role you will contribute to the design, development, testing and qualification of nuclear fuel and other core components. You will work as part of a high functioning teams developing and qualifying fuel for the next generation of nuclear reactors.

Responsibilities

Perform thermo-mechanical analysis of fuel rods and other sodium fast reactor core components to support core/plant design activities, irradiation testing, and code benchmarking
Work with interdisciplinary team of engineers to ensure fuel and absorber designs meet their overall objectives
Develop fuel and material models and analysis methods
Compose and review technical documents to support core/reactor plant design, licensing, software verification and validation, and testing activities
Design and execute sensitivity studies to understand the effects and validity of various modeling assumptions, including meshing, physics coupling, material models, design tolerances
Development of software and databases for cataloging experiments and analysis
Create formal documentation of nuclear fuels methods software requirements, design, implementation, and testing in support of licensing our client’s reactors.
Update, improve, and/or create software to satisfy all licensing requirements during the Verification and Validation (V&V) process
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.
Support irradiation testing by performing fuel performance assessments for pre-test predictions or support interpretation of test results, prepare test plans, and prepare test reports summarizing results

Key Qualifications and Skills

Bachelor’s degree in Nuclear, Mechanical, or Materials Engineering.
A minimum of 6 years of experience in fuel performance modeling or thermo-mechanical analysis
Strong skills in the areas of finite element methods, heat transfer, solid mechanics, non-linear visco-elastic material behavior, behavior of nuclear fuels and irradiation effects on materials
Experience with numerical methods and computational algorithms
Programs: ABAQUS, ANSYS, COMSOL, MOOSE, or equivalent FEA codes
Programming languages: PYTHON, FORTRAN
Experience in understanding and executing nuclear fuel design and analysis methodologies ideally with a focus on fast-neutron reactors
Experience interfacing with manufacturing vendors/engineers to account for the impacts of manufacturing tolerances/limitations on component design
Excellent technical writing, communication, and presentation skills
Attention to detail and aspiration for technical excellence
Possess ability to work on tasks that require a multi-disciplinary approach
Experience in performing design activities to applicable requirements such as NQA-1, ASME B&PV, AWS, 10 CFR 50, Appendix B, or equivalent preferred
Experience interacting on nuclear methodology with the NRC under an ASME NQA-1 compliant QA environment preferred
Excellent “under-the-hood” knowledge of the methods of reactor physics analysis, finite element models, constitutive material models desired
Ability to integrate and automate simulation tools desired
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
Willingness to openly give and accept professional criticism through technical reviews and other venues
The successful candidate will possess a high degree of trust and integrity, communicate openly and display respect, and a desire to foster teamwork