Senior Engineer, Thermal Hydraulics

TerraPower LLC.•Bellevue, WA

4d•$117,922 - $176,883•Onsite

About The Position

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.

Requirements

Minimum of 5 years of related experience with a Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical, Nuclear, or Chemical engineering (or equivalent); or 3 years and a Master’s degree; or a PhD with demonstrated ability to perform the thermal-hydraulic analysis of nuclear reactor core and/or system components
Minimum of 3 years of demonstrated use commercial CFD package (STAR-CCM+ preferred)
Working knowledge of variety CFD best practices, modeling approaches, meshing parameters to be suited for specific applications balancing accuracy, computer resources.
Creative thinker with demonstrated strong analytical/problem solving skills
Ability to work on multiple tasks concurrently during a given work week
The successful candidate will possess a high degree of trust and integrity, communicate openly and display respect, and a desire to foster teamwork
Candidates must meet the minimum education and experience criteria applicable to the role, including relevant nuclear industry experience where required. Verification of data will be part of the hiring process.

Nice To Haves

Experience with one or more CAD modeling tools such as SolidWorks preferred
Experience with nuclear systems applications of Computational Fluid Dynamics a plus
Experience with low Prandtl number fluid heat transfer a plus
Familiarity and experience with CFD verification and validation of computational modeling methodologies a plus
Experience in Software Quality Assurance (SQA) program and Nuclear Quality Assurance (NQA-1) standards highly preferred
Strong communication skills desired

Responsibilities

Performing analysis and design of structures, systems, and components for the Natrium Reactor
Computational thermal-fluids analysis using 3D CFD tools
Perform steady-state and transient hydraulic network analysis
Document and present results to peers and outside organizations
Support continuous learning and application of nuclear industry best practices in order to maintain the highest quality of engineering design and proactively identify process change/enhancement opportunities
Work with cross-disciplinary teams to analyze the thermal and mechanical design considerations for the reactor and its components
Work on complex issues where judgment in selecting methods, techniques, and evaluation criteria for obtaining results with minimal supervision.