Early Career Nuclear Engineer

Overview

At PNNL, our core capabilities are divided among major departments that we refer to as Directorates within the Lab, focused on a specific area of scientific research or other function, with its own leadership team and dedicated budget.

Our Science & Technology directorates include National Security, Earth and Biological Sciences, Physical and Computational Sciences, and Energy and Environment. In addition, we have an Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory, a Department of Energy, Office of Science user facility housed on the PNNL campus.

The National Security Directorate (NSD) drives science-based, mission-focused solutions to take on complex, real-world threats to our nation and the world.

The Nuclear, Chemical, and Biological Technologies Division, within the National Security Directorate, works across fundamental science, research and development, and operations to counter emerging national security threats. We focus on discovering signatures and understanding threats by creating materials, methods, and technologies to detect and analyze them. Our researchers deliver the solutions necessary for addressing complex mission challenges, such as explosives detection, biological threat detection, chemical and nuclear forensics, and special nuclear materials.

The Nuclear Engineering Group at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) is seeking an early-career nuclear engineer to help advance the nation's capabilities in nuclear materials production, nuclear engineering, and nuclear nonproliferation.

A significant portion of the group's work supports the National Nuclear Security Administration's Office of Defense Programs, which is responsible for maintaining and modernizing the nation's nuclear weapons stockpile. The group also conducts research and provides technical expertise in criticality safety and radiation shielding; advanced nuclear fuels for research, commercial, and next-generation reactors; mobile and small nuclear power systems for the Department of Defense;

and nuclear nonproliferation and international safeguards.

This position offers the opportunity to contribute to multidisciplinary projects spanning national security, reactor technology, nuclear materials, and advanced energy systems.

• Apply basic nuclear engineering theories to well defined tasks with minimal oversight.
• Collaborate with experienced engineers and contribute to projects involving both near-term analyses and longer-term model development.
• Document methods and findings in technical reports and presentations.

This position offers a hybrid work arrangement. The selected individual should expect regular on-site work to support project activities involving sensitive information and collaboration with team members.

You will be expected to work with non-sensitive, sensitive, and classified information as appropriate for individual projects and should demonstrate an ability to navigate sensitive business situations and contribute to positive outcomes. In this position, you must recognize and accept that you will be working in technical areas associated with the National Security of the United States.

• Bachelor's degree or higher in Nuclear Engineering

• Strong conceptual knowledge of scientific or engineering theories, practices, and procedures within nuclear engineering.
• Experience with one or more reactor physics or radiation transport codes, such as MCNP or SCALE.
• Programming or scripting experience in Python, Fortran, C/C++, or a similar language.
• Familiarity with Linux-based HPC environments and Git or other version-control tools.
• Strong analytical, technical writing, and problem-solving skills.
• Ability to learn new…