Senior Safety Methods Engineer
Nuclear industryUS only
About this role
Senior Safety Methods Engineer supporting the design and licensing of TerraPower's Natrium Demonstration reactor. You'll develop thermal hydraulic analysis methods for Licensing Basis Events, advanced sodium fast reactor system modeling, and contribute expertise in reactor transient and steady-state thermal hydraulic analysis.
Responsibilities
- —Develop system-level thermal hydraulic analysis methods, including modeling strategies, numerical approaches, and closure models
- —Perform steady-state and transient system-level analyses to characterize model behavior, assess method performance, and define method fidelity requirements
- —Support method qualification, including numerical verification, applicability envelopes, and performance characterization
- —Formulate and integrate closure models and empirical correlations (heat transfer, pressure drop, mixing, component-level physics) into existing analysis frameworks
- —Identify modeling gaps and support method enhancement using sensitivity studies
- —Develop automated workflows and tools for model setup, execution, post-processing, and repeatable method application
- —Document modeling methodologies, assumptions, method applicability, and numerical performance for design and licensing support
- —Work across disciplines to ensure thermal hydraulic methods integrate with plant design, safety analysis, and coupled simulation workflows
- —Apply and improve TerraPower's SQA and NQA-1 modeling practices, ensuring traceability, configuration control, and reproducibility
Qualifications
- —Bachelor's degree in Mechanical, Nuclear, Chemical Engineering, or similar field
- —3+ years of experience in system-level thermal hydraulic modeling and method development for nuclear or complex energy systems
- —Demonstrated experience developing or improving analysis methods, including numerical scheme development and closure model formulation
- —Experience performing system-level thermal hydraulic analyses using tools such as RELAP5-3D, GOTHIC, SAS, or equivalent
- —Strong foundation in thermal fluids and reactor system behavior, including complex thermal hydraulic phenomena relevant to advanced reactor designs
- —Experience performing sensitivity analyses and model gap identification to support method development
- —Familiarity with NQA-1 quality assurance for modeling workflows
- —Strong analytical thinking and clear technical communication skills
Desired
- —Experience with scientific programming and workflow automation (Python, MATLAB)
- —Ability to extend or tailor modeling approaches within existing thermal hydraulic frameworks
Apply on TerraPower →
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Job details
FieldEngineering
LocationBellevue, Washington, United States
IndustryNuclear energy
PostedJun 2026
About the company
TerraPower →A nuclear innovation company founded by Bill Gates, building the Natrium sodium-cooled fast reactor and advancing medical isotope production.
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Senior Safety Methods Engineer
TerraPower