TITLE: MCFR Nuclear Shielding Engineer
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.
Nuclear Design and Shielding Lead Engineer
TerraPower, LLC. Is seeking a highly motivated Nuclear Design and Shielding Engineer for the Molten Chloride Fast Reactor (MCFR) project.
TerraPower's Molten Chloride Fast Reactor (MCFR) project is commercializing the technology to operate a fast spectrum, chloride salt cooled molten salt reactor. TerraPower's work focuses on a fast neutron spectrum to minimize the reactivity impact of fission products and avoid the need for online reprocessing that is required in thermal spectrum molten salt reactor concepts.
Responsibilities
In this role, you will:
• Lead the design of the shielding system for the MCRE
• Perform radiation shielding design and analysis for advanced nuclear reactors and medical isotopes separations facility, including calculating dose, activation rates, half thicknesses, DPA rates, energy deposition rates and gas production rates.
• Develop radiation source term based on materials activation analysis for non-fuel in-vessel components.
• 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 model geometry complexity, meshing, variance reduction techniques, transport options, cross section preparation, etc., and help build corrected methods if necessary.
• Ensure the final shielding design and implementation meets the radiation shield requirements. This includes interfacing with civil and structural engineers to develop and track key requirements, iterate on the design and radiation performance calculations, and determine methods for requirements verification both in the design and fabrication process.
• Establish and maintain documentation of requirements, analysis results, and radiation shielding design solutions.
• Help to ensure consistency, traceability, maintainability, and technical rigor in documentation
• Support the MCRE Auxiliary Systems Group Lead with system interfaces (geometry, technical inputs, and requirements), procurements, scheduling tasks, and project reporting
• 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
• B.S. degree in Nuclear Engineering or equivalent experience; Advanced degree and 2+ years of relevant experience with nuclear analysis preferred.
• Knowledgeable or highly motivated to quickly learn basic nuclear reactor design concepts to meaningfully support engineering team with understanding of systems being designed and code being reviewed.
• Experience in radiation shielding design and analysis.
• Strong computational expertise.
• Advanced experience with performing radiation shielding calculations for both gammas and neutrons using MCNP.
• Candidate should be familiar with variance reduction and using MCNP, and features such as surface source read/write, mesh tallies, and weight windows.
• Experience with Attila /Attila4MC and computed aided drafting (e.g., SolidWorks, SpaceClaim/ANSYS, Cubit) is a plus.
• Good working knowledge of nuclear and/or general numerical methods (e.g., activation analysis, dose rates, PDEs, dynamics, deterministic and stochastic particle transport, isotopic depletion, nuclear data, etc.).
• Excellent verbal and communication skills.
• Ability and professionalism to work within published regulatory guidelines for nuclear reactor design.
• Fast reactor experience preferred.
• An ability to perform professional-quality software development for nuclear applications is preferred.
• Strong programming skills in any language is a plus, but bonus points will be awarded for Python, Git, C++, and Fortran skills.
• Experience working under NQA-1 quality program 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.
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.
Please visit www.terrapower.com to apply
Job details
Salary Range Level 11 $125,257 - $208,762
Salary Range Level 12: $169,922 - $235,464
*Typically, our employee salaries are within .90 - 1.0 of the mid-point of the posted salary bands. 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.
Benefits:
• Competitive Compensation
• Salary, eligible to participate in discretionary short-term incentive payments
• Comprehensive Medical and Wellness Benefits for family or individual
• 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
TerraPower Career and Benefits information: https://www.terrapower.com/contact-us/careers/
