Senior Process Engineer – Recycling

SHINE is seeking a senior process engineer for our used nuclear fuel (UNF) Recycling product line. The US has more than 95,000 metric tons of used nuclear fuel and nowhere to put it. This role owns the process systems that turn it back into energy. The process, liquid-liquid separation, has been commercialized before, but we are integrating new technologies to improve proliferation resistance and maximize recovery.

The Senior Process Engineer - Recycling owns the chemical and mechanical systems of SHINE’s used nuclear fuel (UNF) Recycling Pilot facility which ensure the safe, efficient, and effective operation of the facility. Key responsibilities include carrying those systems from preliminary design through detailed design, working with SHINE R&D and vendors to finalize design for fabrication, reviewing final design for installation, testing, and operability considerations, preparing or approving equipment test plans, participating in factory acceptance tests and site acceptance tests, performing site walkdowns, and other design, procurement, installation, and testing tasks.

The job takes judgment as much as method. Process design at SHINE is expected to be as simple as it can safely be made: the engineer specifies what the process needs and no more, understands which requirements are earning their keep, and says so when one is not - to the Chief Engineer, to licensing, and to vendors.

Hybrid work arrangement will be considered. Our key facilities are in Janesville, Wisconsin and Fitchburg, WI. Candidates may be asked to travel occasionally for team meetings or onsite engagements, depending on business needs.

The base salary range for this position is $105,000 - $150,000 per year plus a comprehensive compensation package. Our salary ranges are determined by role, level, and location.

• Own the process design of assigned systems: process flow diagrams, P&IDs, material and energy balances, equipment sizing, and the design requirements that flow from them.
• Prepare and review design packages, specifications, test plans, calculations, reports, and drawings in the following areas:
  • Radiation hot cell installation and use
  • Piping, valves, and tanks design, use, installation, and testing
  • Confinement boundaries testing
  • Air handling testing
  • Chemical separations of aqueous media
  • Fluid flow and heat transfer
  • Other chemical and mechanical calculations
• Apply a graded approach to the requirements on assigned systems: justify each one, and take the ones that cannot be justified to the Chief Engineer for removal.
• Lead or participate in hazard and operability studies (HAZOPs) and design reviews for assigned systems, and close the actions that come out of them.
• Work with SHINE R&D to carry process technology from development into a design that can be fabricated, licensed and operated.

• Write equipment specifications and requirements documents that vendors can build to, and work with procurement to purchase equipment.
• Work with equipment vendors on factory acceptance tests, site acceptance tests, and on-time/on-budget design and/or delivery of chemical process equipment
• Perform owner’s acceptance reviews for vendor provided reports and calculations.
• Prepare/review test plans for factory and site acceptance testing of equipment.
• Perform walk-downs of installed equipment in the field.

• The process design for assigned systems has reached the maturity needed to support the Pilot facility construction permit application (or equivalent), and is under configuration control.
• The requirements on assigned systems have been reviewed against a graded approach, and the ones that could not be…