Sensitivity & Uncertainy Quantification Engineer

Company Info
RCS Corporation
Charlotte, NC, United States

Phone: 7049405906
Web Site:

Company Profile
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Title:

Sensitivity & Uncertainy Quantification Engineer

Location:

Bellevue, WA 

Job ID:

69525
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Job Description:

About
Our client is seeking to contract 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.  In this role, you will support the nuclear methods team.

Responsibilities
•    Create formal documentation of sensitivity and uncertainty quantification studies applicable to the Natrium reactor. The areas of interest are in criticality, control rod worth, power distribution, and fast neutron fluence.
•    Utilize the existing Advanced Reactor Modeling Interface (ARMI) framework developed by our client to build an automated suite of sensitivity studies.
•    Utilize the existing uncertainty quantification methods developed at TerraPower to assess sensitivities and uncertainties to key figures of merit.
•    Work within the nuclear methods team supporting the Natrium project on the development of applicable engineering and licensing media.

Key Qualifications and Skills

•    Advanced degree in Nuclear Engineering or equivalent and 4+ years of relevant experience preferred  
•    Experience in understanding and executing nuclear design/analysis methodologies, with a focus on radiation transport analyses using deterministic and/or stochastic simulation codes.
•    Excellent “under-the-hood” knowledge of the methods of reactor physics analysis (deterministic and stochastic particle transport, isotopic depletion, perturbation theory, nuclear data, kinetics, etc.) 
•    Experience with some nuclear engineering software such as DIF3D, MC2, PARTISN, MCNP, Serpent, SCALE, PARCS, APA, CASMO, DRAGON, ARMI, etc. preferred
•    Strong background in statistics is preferred.
•    Familiarity and experience with the SUBGROUP 33 work on combined use of integral experiments and covariance data is preferred - https://www.oecd-nea.org/jcms/pl_19337/final-report-of-wpec-subgroup-33-on-methods-and-issues-for-the-combined-use-of-integral-experiments-and-covariance-data?details=true. 
•    Experience with hot channel factor development for evaluating thermal-hydraulics uncertainties is preferred.
•    Fast reactor physics and design intuition
•    Strong programming skills in any language required, preferably in scientific computing; bonus points for Python, C++, and Fortran skills 
•    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 
•    Ability 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%