Posted by: U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission on Sep 15, 2022
Location:
Rockville , MD 20852
Job Description:
Background
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is proud to be ranked as a BEST Place to Work in the Federal Government. We've earned our top ratings by creating a work environment rich in opportunity, diversity, leadership training, teamwork, and work life balance. Help guide our nation into the next generation of nuclear safety! Begin a challenging career with the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission where you can be part of a select group of professionals who protect people and the environment with the peaceful use of nuclear materials in medicine, industry and research.
Duties
These positions are in the Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation, Division of Safety Systems: Nuclear Methods, Systems and New Reactors Branch; Nuclear Systems Performance Branch; Nuclear Methods and Fuel Analysis; and Division of Advanced Reactors and Non-power Production and Utilization Facilities (NPUF): Technical Branch 1 and 2. N Bethesda, MD.
DIRECT HIRE AUTHORITY: These positions are being filled using Direct-Hire Authority. This is an OPEN UNTIL FILLED ANNOUNCEMENT. It will be used to fill positions as vacancies occur. Over the course of the open period, applications will be reviewed and referred for positions as they become available. The first set of applications will be reviewed and made available for referral on/about May 4, 2022. Therefore, applicants are encouraged to apply early to receive the broadest consideration.
As a Reactor Systems Engineer in NRR’s Division of Advanced Reactors and Non-power Production and Utilization Facilities or Division of Safety Systems, you will be responsible for the following pertaining to operating or new light-water or non-light-water power or non-power production or utilization facility applications:
1. Reviewing and evaluating design, process design parameters, and performance of reactor systems and nuclear fuel designs, including fuel performance, thermal hydraulic, and reactivity phenomena under steady-state, transient and accident conditions for licensing basis events.
2. Conducting reactor systems confirmatory analyses.
3. Reviewing and evaluating policy issues related to reactor systems methodologies and requirements for proposed designs.
4. Preparing safety evaluation reports, audit reports, and other documentation.
5. Presenting results of evaluations to internal and external stakeholders (e.g., NRC Commission, NRC Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards, NRC Atomic Safety and Licensing Board Panel, international regulatory counterparts, industry and non-governmental organization representatives, the public).
6. Performing technical audits related to reactor systems performance and licensing basis event evaluation.
Qualifications
In order to qualify for this position, you must have at least one year of specialized experience at the next lower grade level in the Federal service or equivalent experience in the private or public sector.
Specialized Experience is defined as experience reviewing or evaluating design, process design parameters, and performance of reactor systems and nuclear fuel designs for nuclear reactors, including both thermal hydraulic and reactivity phenomena under steady-state, transient and accident conditions for design basis events.
The ideal candidate will be able to demonstrate the following:
1. Capacity to apply the theories, principles, and practices in the field of reactor systems and nuclear fuel sufficient to evaluate designs, process design parameters, and review performance for a variety of operating or new light-water or non-light-water power or non-power production or utilization facilities and nuclear fuel designs.
2. Ability to formulate sound technical judgements, make recommendations, and find solutions to issues pertaining to event evaluation in the areas of core physics, fuel behavior, reactivity control system and control rod design, and core thermal-hydraulic performance.
3. Knowledge of NRC rules, regulations, and policies pertaining to light-water or non-light-water power or non-power production or utilization facilities through familiarity with NRC’s advanced reactor vison, strategy, and policy activities, reactor licensing regulations, passive reactor design policies, system design standards, and regulatory guides and practices. Ability to apply this regulatory knowledge through the performance of licensing activities or guidance development related to nuclear reactors.
4. Ability to communicate information, ideas, and advice in a clear, concise, and logical manner, both orally and in writing. Ability to establish and maintain effective work relationships with management and staff, colleagues, and representatives of external organizations.
A description of how you possess the specialized experience as well as how you meet the qualifications desired in an ideal candidate should be addressed in your resume and additional space provided for supplemental response.
Education
You must include an unofficial or official copy of your college and/or university transcripts with your application. Education must be from an accredited (or pre-accredited) college or university recognized by the U.S. Department of Education. If you are qualifying based on foreign education, you must submit proof of credibility of education as evaluated by a credentialing agency.
Qualification for All Professional Engineering 0800 Series:
Basic Requirements:
1. Degree: Engineering. To be acceptable, the program must: (1) lead to a bachelor’s degree in a school of engineering with at least one program accredited by ABET; or (2) include differential and integral calculus and courses (more advanced than first-year physics and chemistry) in five of the following seven areas of engineering science or physics: (a) statics, dynamics; (b) strength of materials (stress-strain relationships); (c) fluid mechanics, hydraulics; (d) thermodynamics; (e) electrical fields and circuits; (f) nature and properties of materials (relating particle and aggregate structure to properties); and (g) any other comparable area of fundamental engineering science or physics, such as optics, heat transfer, soil mechanics, or electronics.
OR
1. Combination of education and experience -- college-level education, training, and/or technical experience that furnished (1) a thorough knowledge of the physical and mathematical sciences underlying engineering, and (2) a good understanding, both theoretical and practical, of the engineering sciences and techniques and their applications to one of the branches of engineering. The adequacy of such background must be demonstrated by one of the following:
2. Professional registration or licensure -- Current registration as an Engineer Intern (EI), Engineer in Training (EIT)1, or licensure as a Professional Engineer (PE) by any State, the District of Columbia, Guam, or Puerto Rico. Absent other means of qualifying under this standard, those applicants who achieved such registration by means other than written test (e.g., State grandfather or eminence provisions) are eligible only for positions that are within or closely related to the specialty field of their registration. For example, an applicant who attains registration through a State Board's eminence provision as a manufacturing engineer typically would be rated eligible only for manufacturing engineering positions.
3. Written Test -- Evidence of having successfully passed the Fundamentals of Engineering (FE)2 examination or any other written test required for professional registration by an engineering licensure board in the various States, the District of Columbia, Guam, and Puerto Rico.
4. Specified academic courses -- Successful completion of at least 60 semester hours of courses in the physical, mathematical, and engineering sciences and that included the courses specified in the basic requirements under paragraph A. The courses must be fully acceptable toward meeting the requirements of an engineering program as described in paragraph A.
5. Related curriculum -- Successful completion of a curriculum leading to a bachelor's degree in an appropriate scientific field, e.g., engineering technology, physics, chemistry, architecture, computer science, mathematics, hydrology, or geology, may be accepted in lieu of a bachelor’s degree in engineering, provided the applicant has had at least 1 year of professional engineering experience acquired under professional engineering supervision and guidance. Ordinarily there should be either an established plan of intensive training to develop professional engineering competence, or several years of prior professional engineering-type experience, e.g., in interdisciplinary positions. (The above examples of related curricula are not all-inclusive.)
How to Apply
Visit www.nrc.gov Review the NRC Career Opportunities page, click on “Apply Now” then “Search for New Opportunities” and click on “view a list of current NRC vacancies, please visit USAJobs EXIT.” Find the Reactor Systems Engineer - Direct Hire Authority Job Announcement Number NRR-2022-0010 and apply on-line by October 5, 2022. We strongly encourage you to read the entire announcement before you submit your application for this position so that you correctly submit all necessary materials and documentation. If you are viewing this opportunity after October 5th please visit NRC’s website and discover additional opportunities for which you might be interested.
Education Level:
Bachelors degree or higher
HR. Website URL:
https://www.nrc.gov/about-nrc/employment.html
Travel Requirements:
Light