Nuclear Analysis Engineer

Aalo Atomics•Austin, TX

6d•Onsite

About The Position

Aalo is seeking a Nuclear Analysis Engineer to support the design, analysis, licensing, testing, deployment, and operation of Aalo’s advanced reactor systems. Aalo is developing modular sodium-cooled reactor technology intended for scalable manufacturing and deployment. This role will contribute directly to reactor core design, safety analysis, and the technical basis needed to support design decisions, testing, and regulatory engagement. As a Nuclear Analysis Engineer, you will perform a broad range of reactor physics and neutronics analyses using modern modeling and simulation tools. Your work will help guide core design and optimization, evaluate reactor performance and safety behavior, and generate high-quality technical documentation to support internal reviews and external submittals. This role is highly collaborative and interfaces closely with teams across fuel design, thermal-hydraulics, safety analysis, mechanical design, manufacturing, testing, and licensing. Aalo operates in a fast-paced engineering environment. Engineers are expected to take ownership of difficult technical problems, develop practical and rigorous analytical methods, communicate clearly, and help drive designs from early concepts through detailed analysis, fabrication, testing, and operation.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Nuclear Engineering, Physics, Mechanical Engineering, or a closely related technical discipline
5+ years of experience performing reactor physics or neutronics analyses for nuclear reactor systems
Strong grounding in neutron transport, reactor physics, criticality, and nuclear engineering fundamentals
Experience with continuous-energy Monte Carlo methods and codes
Experience with deterministic reactor physics methods or tools, including diffusion theory, discrete ordinates, nodal methods, or fast reactor analysis methods
Proficiency in Python for engineering analysis, automation, scientific computing, or data processing
Strong written and verbal communication skills
Based in the United States
Willing to work on-site in Austin, TX

Nice To Haves

Master’s degree or Ph.D. in Nuclear Engineering or a related field
10+ years of experience in reactor physics, core design, or nuclear analysis
Experience with one or more production neutronics tools such as Serpent, MCNP, OpenMC, SCALE/KENO, Griffin, or DIF3D
Experience with deterministic reactor physics tools or methods, including diffusion, discrete ordinates, nodal methods, or fast reactor analysis approaches
Experience with advanced thermal-spectrum reactor design
Experience designing or analyzing sodium-cooled reactor systems
Experience using AI tools to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of engineering workflows
Experience working under NQA-1-compliant software quality assurance programs and procedures, including software qualification and commercial-grade dedication

Responsibilities

Perform neutronics and reactor physics analyses in support of the design, evaluation, and optimization of advanced reactor cores.
Develop high-fidelity three-dimensional reactor models using Monte Carlo transport tools such as Serpent, MCNP, OpenMC, and SCALE.
Perform deterministic reactor physics calculations and develop reduced-order models, as appropriate, to support design iteration, scoping studies, and coupled analyses.
Evaluate core criticality, neutron flux and power distributions, power peaking, control rod worth, shutdown margin, excess reactivity, and other key nuclear design parameters.
Perform fuel depletion and fuel cycle analyses, including evaluation of fuel burnup, isotopic evolution, fission product poisoning, reactivity swing, activation, decay heat, and fuel management strategies.
Support multiphysics analysis by coupling neutronics models with thermal-hydraulics, fuel performance, and thermo-mechanical analysis tools.
Evaluate reactivity coefficients and feedback mechanisms, including fuel temperature (Doppler), moderator temperature, coolant temperature and density effects, voiding, and other temperature-dependent material effects.
Calculate reactor kinetics parameters, including delayed neutron fraction, neutron generation time, and related quantities needed for reactor dynamics and safety analysis.
Perform activation, radiation source term, and shielding analyses as needed to support reactor design, operations, maintenance, and safety evaluations.
Prepare clear, well-organized technical reports, presentations, and supporting documentation for design reviews, safety analyses, and licensing activities.
Communicate methods, assumptions, uncertainties, limitations, and design implications effectively to both technical and cross-functional stakeholders.