TITLE:              Senior Engineer, Fuel Performance and Development

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 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, as a federal contractor, 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, Fuel Performance and Development

TerraPower, LLC is seeking a highly motivated Senior Engineer to support the Natrium 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

•  Train and support reactor designers and developers in the use of the design software suite

•  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 TerraPower reactors.

•  Update, improve, and/or create software to satisfy all licensing requirements during the Validation and Verification (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.

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

•  The applicant must be able to relocate to Bellevue, WA area

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:  $113,605 - $170,408

*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