Research Intern

Washington, DC The Nuclear Company is the fastest growing AI tech-startup in the nuclear and energy space, pioneering a fleet-scale approach to building the next generation of nuclear reactors. Through our design-once, build-many model, we're accelerating the deployment of safe, reliable, and affordable nuclear energy. We operate with an AI-first mindset. Every employee is expected to leverage AI, technology, and the Nuclear Operating System (NOS) as integral components of their role to improve the quality, speed, and impact of their work. We expect every team member to continuously identify opportunities to automate workflows, enhance decision-making, improve processes, and contribute to the ongoing evolution of NOS as a strategic operating capability that enables The Nuclear Company to scale with excellence. We hire people who are driven by purpose, thrive in ambiguity, and are energized by building what has never been built before. Our team combines intellectual curiosity with high agency, embraces candid feedback and continuous learning, and holds themselves and others to exceptional standards. Our values— Trust, Responsibility, Unity, Scrappiness, and Tenacity —guide how we hire, collaborate, and make decisions every day. They are not words on a wall; they are the standard by which we operate. Trust is the foundation of our safety culture, fostering intellectual honesty, accountability, and open communication, while our values challenge every team member to execute with urgency, humility, resilience, and an unwavering commitment to our mission. About the role The United States is building nuclear power again, at a scale notattemptedin a generation, and The Nuclear Company is leading it. Our Applied Research and AI team works on the open problems that decide how a fleet of plants gets built: sequencing construction across many concurrent sites,allocatingcapital under deep uncertainty, and keeping a distributed critical infrastructure secure. These are hard problems with real operational stakes, and the work ships into systems that inform real decisions. You will put reinforcement learning and optimization to work on problems that decide how a fleet of plants gets built: how to sequence construction across many sites, where to place capital under uncertainty, and how to keep a distributed site secure. As aData Science & MachineLearningFellow, you formulate the problem, build a simulation or optimization model, evaluate it rigorously, and help move it toward a deployed decision system. You workalongsidenuclearindustryexpertsto deliver solutions that inform real decisions and create business value. This is a 12-week Summer 2027fellowship(May to August), aligned to the academic calendar. Base location is Washington DC, on-site five days a week, with full housing and relocation forfellowsoutside the DC metro area. Responsibilities Problem formulation:translateoperational processes (construction scheduling, portfolio sequencing, security operations) into well-defined modeling problems andmakethe case for the right approach. Simulation and evaluation: build environments that faithfully represent theseprocessesso models can be trained, evaluated, and iterated on. Modeling: develop reinforcement learning, optimization, or forecasting models for schedule optimization, capital allocation under uncertainty, or anomaly detection and alert prioritization. Empirical research: design rigorous experiments, keep reproducible codebases, and communicate results clearly to technical and non-technical stakeholders. Production path: work with engineering on how models are served,monitored, updated, and safely overridden in production. Required Experience Currently pursuing an MS or PhD in Computer Science, Machine Learning, Operations Research, Applied Math, Economics, Statistics, or a related quantitative field. Returning to your MS or PhD program after thefellowship(expected graduation December 2027 or later). Production-quality Python andPyTorch, with solid machine learning fundamentals. Hands-on experience (coursework, research, or projects) with at least one of: reinforcement learning, mathematical optimization, simulation and modeling, or time-series forecasting. Able to translate a messy real-world process into a tractable formulation (an MDP with sensible state, action, and reward, or an optimization model) and explain the modeling choice. Running pre-built models on clean benchmarks is not enough. Demonstrated ability to design, implement, and evaluate experiments, with reproducible research practices (version control, testing). This position requires access to information and technology subject to U.S. export controls (including DOE 10 CFR Part 810 and NRC requirements). U.S. Person status (U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident) isrequired, and TNC does not provide visa sponsorship for these roles. Willing and able to work on-site in Washington DC, five days a week, for the full 12-week program Preferred Experience Deep RL: policy gradient (PPO, SAC) or value-based (DQN, IQL) methods; offline / batch RL (CQL, IQL, TD3+BC, Decision Transformer). Combinatorial optimization with ML: graph neural networks for scheduling or routing, or neural combinatorial optimization. Multi-agent RL (MAPPO, QMIX) or stochastic / robust optimization (CVaR-constrained, chance-constrained, distributionally robust). Uncertainty quantification; a game-theory or behavioral-science perspective on decision-making. MLOpsfor models in production: serving, monitoring, retraining, and distribution-shift detection. Domain exposure: construction or infrastructure operations, energy or electricity markets, industrial control systems, orcritical-infrastructuresecurity. Competitive compensation packages 401k with company match Estimated Starting Salary Range The estimated starting rate for this role is $25.00 an hour plus a $2,000 monthly housing stipend less applicable withholdings and deductions, paid on a bi-weekly basis. The actual pay offered may vary based on relevant factors as determined in the Company’s discretion, which may include experience, qualifications, tenure, skill set, availability of qualified candidates, geographic location, certifications held, and other criteria deemed pertinent to the particular role. EEO Statement The Nuclear Company is an equal opportunity employer committed to fostering an environment of inclusion in the workplace. We provide equal employment opportunities to all qualified applicants and employees without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, or any other protected characteristic. We prohibit discrimination in all aspects of employment, including hiring, promotion, demotion, transfer, compensation, and termination. Export Control Certain positions at The Nuclear Company may involve access to information and technology subject to export controls under U.S. law. Compliance with these export controls may result in The Nuclear Company limiting its consideration of certain applicants. Recruiting Fraud Alert Your safety is our priority. We want to ensure your job search stays secure. Please note that the team at The Nuclear Company only communicates through official @thenuclearcompany.com email addresses. We will never ask for payments or sensitive financial information at any stage of our recruitment process. For your peace of mind, please verify all openings and submit your applications directly through our official careers page . U.S. Standard Demographic Questions We invite applicants to share their demographic background. If you choose to complete this survey, your responses may be used to identify areas of improvement in our hiring process. How would you describe your gender identity? Select... How would you describe your racial/ethnic background? Select... How would you describe your sexual orientation? Select... Do you identify as transgender? Select... Do you have a disability or chronic condition (physical, visual, auditory, cognitive, mental, emotional, or other) that substantially limits one or more of your major life activities, including mobility, communication (seeing, hearing, speaking), and learning? Select... Are you a veteran or active member of the United States Armed Forces? Select... Voluntary Self-Identification For government reporting purposes, we ask candidates to respond to the below self-identification survey.Completion of the form is entirely voluntary. Whatever your decision, it will not be considered in the hiringprocess or thereafter. Any information that you do provide will be recorded and maintained in aconfidential file. As set forth in The Nuclear Company’s Equal Employment Opportunity policy,we do not discriminate on the basis of any protected group status under any applicable law. If you believe you belong to any of the categories of protected veterans listed below, please indicate by making the appropriate selection.As a government contractor subject to the Vietnam Era Veterans Readjustment Assistance Act (VEVRAA), we request this information in order to measurethe effectiveness of the outreach and positive recruitment efforts we undertake pursuant to VEVRAA. Classification of protected categoriesis as follows: A "disabled veteran" is one of the following: a veteran of the U.S. military, ground, naval or air service who is entitled to compensation (or who but for the receipt of military retired pay would be entitled to compensation) under laws administered by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs; or a person who was discharged or released from active duty because of a service-connected disability. A "recently separated veteran" means any veteran during the three-year period beginning on the date of such veteran's discharge or release from active duty in the U.S. military, ground, naval, or air service. An "active duty wartime or campaign badge veteran" means a veteran who served on active duty in the U.S. military, ground, naval or air service during a war, or in a campaign or expedition for which a campaign badge has been authorized under the laws administered by the Department of Defense. An "Armed forces service medal veteran" means a veteran who, while serving on active duty in the U.S. military, ground, naval or air service, participated in a United States military operation for which an Armed Forces service medal was awarded pursuant to Executive Order 12985. Select... Voluntary Self-Identification of Disability Form CC-305 Page 1 of 1 OMB Control Number 1250-0005 Expires 07/31/2029 Why are you being asked to complete this form? We are a federal contractor or subcontractor. The law requires us to provide equal employment opportunity to qualified people with disabilities. We have a goal of having at least 7% of our workers as people with disabilities. The law says we must measure our progress towards this goal. To do this, we must ask applicants and employees if they have a disability or have ever had one. People can become disabled, so we need to ask this question at least every five years. Completing this form is voluntary, and we hope that you will choose to do so. Your answer is confidential. No one who makes hiring decisions will see it. Your decision to complete the form and your answer will not harm you in any way. If you want to learn more about the law or this form, visit the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) website at How do you know if you have a disability? A disability is a condition that substantially limits one or more of your “major life activities.” If you have or have ever had such a condition, you are a person with a disability. Disabilities include, but are not limited to: Alcohol or other substance use disorder (not currently using drugs illegally) Autoimmune disorder, for example, lupus, fibromyalgia, rheumatoid arthritis, HIV/AIDS Blind or low vision Cancer (past or present) Cardiovascular or heart disease Celiac disease Cerebral palsy Deaf or serious difficulty hearing Diabetes Disfigurement, for example, disfigurement caused by burns, wounds, accidents, or congenital disorders Epilepsy or other seizure disorder Gastrointestinal disorders, for example, Crohn's Disease, irritable bowel syndrome Intellectual or developmental disability Mental health conditions, for example, depression, bipolar disorder, anxiety disorder, schizophrenia, PTSD Missing limbs or partially missing limbs Mobility impairment, benefiting from the use of a wheelchair, scooter, walker, leg brace(s) and/or other supports Nervous system condition, for example, migraine headaches, Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis (MS) Neurodivergence, for example, attention‑deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), autism spectrum disorder, dyslexia, dyspraxia, other learning disabilities Partial or complete paralysis (any cause) Pulmonary or respiratory conditions, for example, tuberculosis, asthma, emphysema Short stature (dwarfism) Traumatic brain injury Disability Status Select... PUBLIC BURDEN STATEMENT: According to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 no persons are required to respond to a collection of information unless such collection displays a valid OMB control number. This survey should take about 5 minutes to complete. #J-18808-Ljbffr