Senior/Principal Probabilistic Risk Assessment Engineer

The Senior/Principal Probabilistic Risk Assessment (PRA) Engineer is responsible for Level-1 and/or Level-2 PRA supporting the design of reactors under development of the Molten Chloride Fast Reactor (MCFR) Program, specifically this will focus on the further development of the PRA to support the Molten Chloride Reactor Experiment (MCRE).

Other engineering activities include, but are not limited to, contributing to the development of computational methodologies and models, participating in hazard analysis, participating in Phenomena Identification and Ranking Table (PIRT) exercises, and participating to Structures, Systems, and Components (SSC) classification, Safety Basis Events (SBE) selection, and Defense-in-Depth (DID) Evaluations. The Senior/Principal PRA Engineer will be interacting with other groups via interviews, emails, meetings, and other avenues to develop the risk models and the position requires sound written and verbal communication skills.

The Senior/Principal Probabilistic Risk Assessment Engineer receives administrative and technical supervision from the Nuclear Safety Discipline Manager. Actual level will be based on candidates experience

Responsibilities:

• Manage PRA work performed inside and outside of client in coordination with plant design, deterministic safety analysis, and other disciplines.
• Ensure that the PRA is appropriate and used for the reactor design and within regulatory requirements, guidance, and standards such as risk-informed performance-based technology guidance for Non-Light Water Reactors (RG 1.233 and NEI 18-04) and ASME/ANS Non-Light Water PRA standard.
• Develop containment fault trees and event trees to reflect most up to date design using CAFTA.
• Group similar source terms for assignment to event sequence end states.
• Perform risk integration using the PRA model to report risk metrics and importance measures.
• Perform focused PRA analysis to support trade studies.
• Work with an interdisciplinary team of engineers to establish core and reactor SSC functional, reliability, performance, safety, and quality requirements as well as support the overall design.
• Provide technical guidance to engineers and managers on reliability and various PRA-related topics.
• Establish and maintain documentation of model development and analysis results.
• Perform engineering reviews of analyses and other engineering design media.

Key Qualifications and Skills:

• B.S. in nuclear, mechanical, electrical, or aerospace engineering (or similar), with a minimum of 5 years’ experience in the nuclear field; or M.S. with a minimum of 3 years’ experience; or PhD with a minimum of 1 year experience.
• Knowledgeable of PRA principles and familiar with the ASME/ANS Non-Light Water PRA standard.
• Knowledgeable of PRA fundamentals in data, human reliability, accident analysis, severe accidents, and source term assessments.
• Experience with developing fault trees and event trees preferably using CAFTA, or similar software.
• Experience with performing assessments using codes such as GOTHIC, MELCOR, RADTRAD, or similar tools is a plus.
• Familiarity with nuclear design, regulatory requirements, and risk-informed performance-based technology guidance for Non-Light Water Reactors is required (NEI 18-04).
• Experience with SFR and/or Molten Salt Reactors safety analysis is highly desirable. Experience with other reactor designs can be considered when differentiating candidates.
• Demonstrated strong quantitative, analytical, modeling and reporting skills.
• Understanding of NQA-1 requirements associated with analysis and software management as well as experience working under a quality assurance programs.
• Experience in working in multi-disciplinary engineering teams to address engineering challenges.
• Strong software engineering skills in any language is a plus.
• The successful candidate will possess a high degree of trust and integrity, communicate openly and display respect and a desire to foster teamwork.