Principal Engineer, Nuclear Analysis

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 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. 

Principal Engineer, Nuclear Analysis

TerraPower, LLC. Is seeking a highly motivated Principal Nuclear Analysis Engineer. In this role, you will:

• Perform core design and analysis activities of advanced nuclear reactors, including calculation and optimization of fuel management, power distributions, reactivity coefficients, control rod worth and shutdown margin, sensitivity and uncertainties, consistent with required functional and quality requirements
• Design and analyze new systems for solving complex problems
• Design and execute sensitivity studies to understand the effects and validity of various modeling assumptions, including meshing, physics coupling, transport options, cross section preparation, fission product treatment, spatial kinetics, etc., and help build corrected methods if necessary
• Establish and maintain documentation of analysis results and nuclear design solutions

Work at TerraPower is dynamic and evolutionary. As such, new responsibilities often arise, and you should be capable of and excited about learning and applying specialized skills.

Key Qualifications and Skills

• Experience:
  • B.S. or higher in Nuclear Engineering, or related discipline from an accredited university and 7+ years direct experience with proven nuclear engineering skills. Higher education will count towards years of experience.
• Knowledge of basic nuclear reactor design concepts to meaningfully support engineering team with understanding of systems being designed and code being reviewed
• Experience in core design and analysis including fuel management optimization, reactivity coefficients, shielding and activation, control rod worth and uncertainty analysis.
• Strong computational expertise: we like to consider computers as the universe at our fingertips rather than burdensome necessities
• Strong MCNP experience is required; experience with other nuclear engineering software such as DIF3D, MC2, PARTISN, RELAP, SCALE, PARCS, APA, CASMO/SIMULATE, DRAGON, etc., is preferred.
• Good working knowledge of nuclear and/or general numerical methods (e.g. PDEs, dynamics, deterministic and stochastic particle transport, isotopic depletion, perturbation theory, nuclear data, kinetics, etc.)
• Experience in transient analysis, thermal hydraulics, fuel performance, etc. is desired
• Fast reactor experience or experience with Core Operating Limits Report/Tech Specs is desired
• Excellent verbal and communication skills
• Ability and professionalism to work within published regulatory guidelines for nuclear reactor design
• An ability to perform professional-quality software development for nuclear applications is preferred
• Strong programming skills in any language is a plus
• Experience working in NQA-1 environments desired
• Maintain software by working with team to implement clearly defined enhancement requests and bug fixes
• The successful candidate will possess a high degree of trust and integrity, communicate openly and display respect, and a desire to foster teamwork.

This position is subject to qualification requirements in accordance with ANSI/ANS 3.1. Candidates must meet the minimum education and experience criteria applicable to the role, including relevant nuclear industry experience where required. Verification of data will be part of the hiring process.

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 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 hours/day
• Travel required 0-10%

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: $153,862 - $205,149

Any salary offered within the posted salary band is based on market data and commensurate with the selected candidate’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 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

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