Associate Nuclear Engineer

Oak Ridge National Laboratory•Oak Ridge, TN

5d•Onsite

About The Position

We are seeking an Associate Nuclear Engineer to join the Incident Modeling and Computational Sciences (IMCS) Group in the National Security Sciences Directorate at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). IMCS develops and maintains state-of-the-art modeling and simulation tools supporting nuclear facility incident analyses, nuclear weapon effects, radiological consequence management, and other needs for DOE, DOW, and DHS sponsors. In this role, you will apply reactor physics, depletion, criticality safety, and radiation transport modeling and simulation to characterize nuclear fuel cycle activities and materials, with particular emphasis on advanced and small modular reactors and the used nuclear fuel they produce. You will build and execute computational models using tools such as SCALE, MCNP, OpenMC, and Serpent on high-performance computing platforms; quantify uncertainty and modeling bias in calculated results; establish and document defensible analysis methods and best practices; and communicate findings through technical reports, peer-reviewed publications, and briefings for federal sponsors. This is an early-career position intended for a candidate who will work alongside and learn from experienced staff while independently executing assigned technical analyses. The successful candidate will collaborate with a multidisciplinary team of nuclear engineers, physicists, and computational scientists, and will grow into a principal contributor on the group’s modeling and simulation portfolio.

Requirements

A PhD in nuclear engineering, nuclear science, or a related technical field; or an MS in one of these fields with a minimum of 2 years of relevant experience; or a BS in one of these fields with a minimum of 4 years of relevant experience. A combination of education and experience may also be considered.
Demonstrated experience building, executing, and interpreting reactor physics, depletion, or radiation transport models using at least one production-quality code such as SCALE, MCNP, OpenMC, or Serpent.
Working knowledge of the nuclear fuel cycle, including reactor operation, used nuclear fuel characterization, and the fundamentals of criticality safety and radiation shielding.
Experience scripting in Python, or a comparable language, to automate model construction, execution, and post-processing of simulation results.
Excellent written and oral communication skills, including the ability to present technical results to both technical peers and sponsor audiences.

Nice To Haves

Experience modeling advanced or small modular reactors and their fuel cycles, such as TRISO-fueled pebble bed or prismatic high-temperature reactors, sodium fast reactors, or molten salt reactors.
Experience characterizing used nuclear fuel for storage and transportation applications, including criticality safety, burnup credit, source term generation, and dose rate compliance.
Experience with uncertainty quantification, sensitivity analysis, parametric studies, and the quantification of modeling bias in simulation results.
Experience executing large simulation campaigns on high-performance computing resources using job schedulers such as SLURM or PBS.
Familiarity with nuclear data processing and multigroup cross-section generation tools such as AMPX or NJOY.
Experience applying artificial intelligence, machine learning, or surrogate modeling methods to nuclear engineering or fuel cycle problems.
A record of peer-reviewed journal publications and conference presentations in reactor physics, fuel cycle analysis, or used nuclear fuel characterization.
Familiarity with nuclear nonproliferation, international safeguards, material attractiveness, or proliferation and terrorism risk assessment concepts.
Experience developing technical products and briefings for U.S. government sponsors.
An ability to function well in a fast-paced research environment, set priorities to accomplish multiple tasks within deadlines, and adapt to ever-changing needs.

Responsibilities

Apply reactor physics, depletion, criticality safety, and radiation transport modeling and simulation to characterize nuclear fuel cycle activities and materials, with particular emphasis on advanced and small modular reactors and the used nuclear fuel they produce.
Build and execute computational models using tools such as SCALE, MCNP, OpenMC, and Serpent on high-performance computing platforms
Quantify uncertainty and modeling bias in calculated results
Establish and document defensible analysis methods and best practices
Communicate findings through technical reports, peer-reviewed publications, and briefings for federal sponsors.