Safety Analysis Engineer

Alva Energy • Cambridge, MA

1d

About The Position

Alva is seeking a Principal Safety Analysis Engineer to develop, validate, challenge, and improve the thermal-hydraulic methods used to support power uprate programs across the pressurized water reactor fleet. This methods-development role will help determine safety margins, establish technical credibility, and support licensing decisions. The methods will help establish the scale of uprates that can be achieved and support those projects through licensing.

The role offers ownership of a safety analysis capability being developed from the ground up and influence over Alva’s safety analysis program and broader company. The engineer will assess and shape analysis methods, connect technical decisions to plant impacts, and help determine where thermal-hydraulic margin exists and what limits an uprate.

Success includes creating a technically credible and reusable methods basis for PWR uprate work; identifying limiting phenomena and meaningful margin; producing traceable, validated, explainable analyses suitable for customer and regulatory use; strengthening internal safety analysis capability; and developing a methods roadmap as the number and complexity of uprate projects grow.

Requirements

• At least 10 years of nuclear thermal-hydraulic safety analysis or methods-development experience.
• Hands-on experience with one or more nuclear systems, subchannel, or safety-analysis codes, such as RELAP5, RETRAN, VIPRE, GOTHIC, TRACE, COBRA, SIMULATE, or equivalent tools.
• Demonstrated experience developing, modifying, validating, benchmarking, or qualifying thermal-hydraulic models or analysis methods.
• Strong command of thermodynamics, heat transfer, fluid dynamics, two-phase flow, and transient analysis, including the ability to explain the physical basis of model behavior and challenge implausible results.
• Experience in at least one of: evaluation-model development, code-to-code benchmarking, test-data validation, uncertainty methodologies, scaling analysis, stability analysis, sensitivity analysis, or margin methodology.
• Ability to translate technical methods into defensible engineering documentation and communicate the basis of an analysis to peers, customers, licensing teams, and regulators.
• Experience reviewing others’ work, identifying hidden modeling risk, setting technical direction, and mentoring engineers in analysis methods and fundamentals.
• Programming or scripting capability for analysis workflows, automation, and data reduction, such as Python, MATLAB, FORTRAN, C++, or similar.
• Bachelor’s degree in Nuclear, Mechanical, or Chemical Engineering, or a related technical field.

Nice To Haves

• Advanced degree.
• Commercial PWR safety analysis experience, including Chapter 15 or equivalent accident and transient analysis.
• Experience with power uprates, steam generator replacement programs, or plant modifications requiring safety-margin re-analysis.
• Authorship or review of topical reports, safety analysis reports, licensing submittals, or formal responses to NRC or utility technical questions.

Responsibilities

• Own the methods development strategy for thermal-hydraulic safety analysis supporting PWR uprates, including evaluation-model approach, analysis scope, acceptance criteria, sensitivity strategy, uncertainty treatment, and interpretation of results.
• Assess Alva’s analysis toolbox and determine where existing methods are sufficient, need extension or validation, or should be supplemented by new methods or workflows.
• Develop, modify, review, and technically direct models using nuclear safety analysis codes such as RELAP5, RETRAN, VIPRE, GOTHIC, TRACE, COBRA, SIMULATE, or equivalent tools.
• Lead verification, validation, calibration, and benchmarking of models and methods against plant data, test data, vendor information, prior analyses, and code-to-code comparisons; investigate discrepancies and identify their physical or modeling causes.
• Develop defensible approaches to uncertainty, conservatism, scaling, stability, sensitivity, and margin assessment, distinguishing physical limitations from methodological limitations.
• Translate methods into repeatable, traceable engineering practice through calculation packages, methods documentation, technical bases, topical reports, licensing submittals, and responses to utility or NRC questions.
• Partner with licensing, fuel performance, systems engineering, plant integration, testing, and operations teams to connect methods development with plant decisions and project needs.
• Work directly with utility customers, vendors, and external partners to define data needs, communicate technical assumptions, and defend the analysis approach.
• Strengthen the broader team through technical review, mentoring, best-practice development, and selective improvement or automation of analysis workflows.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Principal