Duties

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:

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.

Conducting reactor systems confirmatory analyses.

Reviewing and evaluating policy issues related to reactor systems methodologies and requirements for proposed designs.

Preparing safety evaluation reports, audit reports, and other documentation.

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).

Performing technical audits related to reactor systems performance and licensing basis event evaluation.

Requirements

Conditions of Employment

• This is a Drug Testing position.
• U.S. Citizenship Required
• Background investigation leading to a clearance is required for new hires.

You must meet the qualifications for this position by no later than 30 calendar days after the closing date of this announcement and before placement in the position.

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:

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.

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.

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.

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:

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

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:

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.

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.

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.

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.)

More detailed information about these alternatives are described in the U.S. Office of Personnel Management Qualification Standards Operating Manual which may be accessed at the following website: https://www.opm.gov/policy-dataoversight/classification-qualifications/general-schedule-qualification-standards/0800/general-engineering-series-0801/

Additional information

These positions are in the Bargaining Unit with the National Treasury Employees Union, Chapter 208 and may subject it to the Confidential Financial Disclosure reporting requirements and security ownership restriction reporting requirements.

Based on the staffing needs of the agency/area of consideration, additional selections may be made from this vacancy announcement.

The duty location of this position is Rockville, MD. In general, employees are expected to be in the office 4 days per pay period. Telework schedules are approved, on a case-by-case basis. If selected, telework will be determined in accordance with Agency policy and the Collective Bargaining Agreement, if applicable.

To ensure compliance with an applicable preliminary nationwide injunction, which may be supplemented, modified, or vacated, depending on the course of ongoing litigation, the NRC will take no action to implement or enforce the COVID19 vaccination requirement pursuant to Executive Order 14043 on Requiring Coronavirus Disease 2019 Vaccination for Federal Employees. The NRC will request information regarding the vaccination status of selected applicants for the purposes of implementing other workplace safety protocols, such as protocols related to masking, physical distancing, testing, travel, and quarantine.

The NRC provides reasonable accommodation to applicants with disabilities where appropriate. Individuals with disabilities may contact the Selective Placement Coordinator for assistance with the application or hiring process via Disability.Resource@nrc.gov. Deaf applicants may contact the Disability Program Manager by calling the NRC videophone at 240-428-3217.

Individuals who are eligible for non-competitive appointment under an OPM special appointing authority may apply for consideration under a comparable NRC non-competitive appointing authority. Veterans, please visit: http://www.fedshirevets.gov/

Selectee's will be required to complete a "Declaration of Federal Employment", (OF-306), prior to being appointed to determine their suitability for Federal employment and to authorize a background investigation. False statements or responses on your resume or questionnaire can jeopardize your employment opportunity and subject you to disciplinary action, including removal from Federal service.

A transferable security clearance from another agency or a background investigation leading to a clearance is required for all new hires. To begin work at the NRC without a security clearance, you must be granted a temporary waiver of the required clearance, referred to as a 145(b) waiver. To be eligible for a 145(b) waiver you will need a favorable education verification, reference, credit, and criminal history checks. If a wavier is granted, the successful completion of a background investigation and favorable adjudication is required for continued employment. If you have resided outside the U.S. for an extended period of time, the agency may not be able to (1) grant the 145(b) waiver where the required investigation cannot be completed in a timely manner, or (2) achieve timely completion of the background investigation required for a security clearance.

The NRC is a zero tolerance agency with respect to illegal drug use. Individuals selected for this position will be subject to pre-appointment drug testing unless currently in a NRC position subject to random drug testing AND will be subject to random drug testing upon appointment to the NRC.