Senior Safety Verification and Validation Engineer

Senior Safety Verification and Validation Engineer

Type: Contract (12-months) Contractor Work Model: Remote

About the Role:

As a Senior Safety V&V Engineer, you will be instrumental in verifying and validating safety assessment models and software integral to reactor safety analysis and licensing. You will work on developing and assessing benchmark models, ensuring compliance with NRC guidance (RG 1.203), and supporting safety methodology development for next-generation nuclear systems, including Sodium Fast Reactors (SFR).

Key Responsibilities:

• Develop and maintain assessment bases, including benchmarks and applicable tests, to support safety evaluations.
• Identify uncertainties within experimental data and develop robust benchmark models.
• Assess evaluation models (EM) using NRC's RG 1.203 guidance, ensuring safety standards are met.
• Coordinate and execute safety code verification and validation activities, including simulations, Benchmarking with Integral Effect Tests (IETs), and Separate Effect Tests (SETs).
• Support scaling analyses, code applicability determinations, and software commercial-grade dedication.
• Contribute to the development of analytical and computational models, integrating them into transient analysis codes in collaboration with safety analysis teams.
• Review engineering analyses and contribute to safety assessments for licensing documentation.
• Collaborate with interdisciplinary teams to establish safety, performance, and quality requirements for core and reactor systems.
• Support code development, maintenance, and performance evaluation for system transient codes and safety analyses

Qualifications & Skills:

• Extensive experience with nuclear safety software verification, validation, and system transient analysis codes (RELAP5-3D, TRACE, MELCOR, SAS4A/SASSYS-1, SAM, or similar).
• Strong understanding of nuclear thermal-hydraulic fundamentals, reactor dynamics, and transient phenomena.
• Proven expertise with safety analysis methodologies, including experience with NRC RG 1.203.
• Familiarity with EMDAP and regulatory requirements specific to nuclear safety.
• Knowledge of SFR safety methods and experience with other reactor types such as LWRs is highly desirable.
• Proficiency in programming languages such as Fortran, C++, or Python is a strong plus.
• Advanced degree in nuclear engineering or related field, with at least 5 years of relevant experience.
• Demonstrated strong analytical, modeling, and report-writing abilities.
• Experience working within NQA-1 quality assurance programs and multidisciplinary engineering teams.
• Exceptional communication skills, high integrity, and a collaborative mindset.