Senior Technical Advisor for Advanced Reactor Systems and Fuels

Duties

Serves as the NRR technical staff advisor for assessment of diverse, first-of-a-kind advanced reactor systems and fuels issues. Specific areas of technical review include: (1) fuel qualification, manufacturing, enrichment and burnup, thermodynamic cycle, material properties, and aging mechanisms for diverse fuel technologies (e.g., fuels based on tri-structure isotropic (TRISO) particles, metallic uranium alloys, and liquid salt); 2) fuel mechanical design and performance requirements,(3) quality assurance, as it applies to the design and production of reactor systems and fuel; (4) calculations of reactor thermal-hydraulic systems and core behavior and performance during normal operation, transients, and accidents; (5) computer code verification and validation; (6) principal design criteria; (7) licensing basis event selection; and (8) structures, systems, and components classification. Evaluates the above technical areas as applied to assuring the safe operation of advanced reactors. Independently identifies, evaluates, and pursues the resolution of safety significant issues related to the integrity of advanced reactor designs. Provides authoritative consultation, guidance, assistance, and recommendations on issues related to the safe operation of advanced reactors, with a focus on fuels related aspects, including the applicability of NRC regulations, guidance documents, and industry codes and standards. Independently performs state-of-the-art evaluations and assists in maintaining state-of-the-art analysis capabilities related to plant systems and fuel performance within the Division.

Duties include, but are not limited to:

Plans, organizes, and implements assigned technical reviews, inspections or audits, and regulatory and policy development projects, particularly as they relate to fuel performance and reactor systems safety analyses. Prepares program plans for major review, regulatory development, or policy resolution. These plans include identification of goals and activities, schedules, and resource requirements.

Coordinates efforts of staff within and external to the Division. Coordinates technical review and regulatory development activities with other parts of the organization. Integrates results of DANU reviews with the results of systems, probabilistic risk assessment, inspection, and other technical findings to assess the overall safety of reactor systems and fuel issues. Coordinates activities with the Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research (RES), including identifying and preparing user need requests and monitoring RES research and standards programs. Recommends and coordinates the development of technical and regulatory products, e.g., safety evaluation reports, generic communications, Commission papers, white papers, NUREGs, proposed regulations, regulatory guides, regulatory impact studies, and inspection procedures. Reviews and comments on proposed regulations, policies, reports, memoranda, and other documents relating to or potentially impacting advanced reactor systems or fuels issues.

Leads and guides staff in conducting risk-informed assessments of reactor systems applications and fuel qualification approaches for novel technologies, identifying key insights and phenomenological behavior, recognizing key data needs, and highlighting appropriate regulatory approaches to support safe licensing of novel fuel forms and technologies. Leads collaboration efforts and engagements with international organizations to share information, increase efficiency, and advance the state of the art in advanced light water/non-light water reactor systems and fuels.

Serves as NRC's representative supporting national efforts on generic accelerated fuel qualification topical report development.

Informs and leads activities related to the development of a regulatory framework for advanced reactor systems and fuels, including associated rulemakings and guidance.

Represents the Division and the agency to internal and external organizations. Serves as a principal spokesperson representing the Division and the agency at meetings with licensees and industry owners' groups and other organizations, including international nuclear regulatory authorities. Presents briefings on complex technical issues to senior management, the ACRS, the Commission, Congressional staff, and the public. Testifies at licensing hearings and participates in public meetings. Interacts with the Office of Public Affairs and the media on complex technical and regulatory issues. Prepares written highlights and press releases.

Provides technical leadership and expert advice in support of agency policy and mission-related activities. Supports and participates in the agency knowledge management program and other knowledge management initiatives, including mentoring for staff. Provides advice to agency managers to assist in resolution of differing technical views. Support implementation of agency decisions.

Requirements

Conditions of Employment

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

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

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.

Qualifications

To qualify for this position, you must have at least seven to ten years of specialized experience, or an equivalent combination of education and experience (e.g., graduate degree) that demonstrates expert knowledge and experience in reactor fuel design, manufacturing, and reactor fuel performance, as well as the analyses and analytical methods used to evaluate reactor fuel performance during normal operation, transients, and accidents, sufficient to (1) advise and provide perspectives on existing and evolving reactor fuel design, and associated technical issues; (2) provide evaluations of regulatory issues and technical analyses; (3) mentor less experienced members of the staff, and (4) represent the agency in interactions with licensees, reactor vendors, other Federal agencies, national laboratories, international organizations, public, and other stakeholders.

A detailed 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.

The Ideal Candidate for this position will have:

Demonstrated, extensive knowledge of, and experience in, the theories, principles, and practices in the field of nuclear facilities engineering as it relates to the design, construction, operation, and analysis, to ensure safety of advanced non-light water reactors.

Demonstrated, extensive knowledge of, and experience as a recognized expert in advanced light water/non-light water reactor systems and fuels including manufacturing, testing, performance, and the analyses and analytical methods used to evaluate reactor systems and fuel performance during normal operation, transients, and accidents. (DOUBLE WEIGHTED)

Demonstrated extensive knowledge of industry codes, standards, and practices related to the design and operation of advanced light water/non-light water systems and fuel. This includes knowledge and experience in applying the appropriate portions of the relevant ASME, ASTM, and other codes and standards to design, inspection, evaluation, and operation of systems and fuels for advanced light water/non-light water reactors.

Demonstrated advanced oral and written communication skills, and experience effectively conveying and presenting complex and detailed information of a technical and/or policy nature to colleagues, peers, senior management officials, and representative of other institutions, agencies, or organizations.

Demonstrated ability to function as an organizational representative and liaison on substantive technical and policy issues, and to achieve cooperation and consensus among parties engages in joint or parallel efforts.

A detailed 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

A. 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

B. 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 professionalregistration 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.)

Additional information

The NRC provides reasonable accommodation to applicants with disabilities where appropriate. If you need a reasonable accommodation for any part of the application and hiring process, please notify the Disability Program Coordinator at (301) 415-2294.. Determinations on requests for reasonable accommodation will be made on a case-by-case basis. Selection for this position will be made without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, political affiliation, marital status, non-disqualifying physical or mental handicap, age, membership, or non membership in an employee organization, personal favoritism or other non- merit factors. Selectees 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 need favorable education verification, and reference, credit, and criminal history checks. If a wavier is granted, the successful completion of a background investigation and favorable adjudication are 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 duty location of this position is Rockville, Maryland. 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.

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