Reactor Core Thermal Fluids Engineer

Thanks for your interest in Oklo! We are searching for a Thermal Fluids Engineer to join our Core Thermal-Hydraulics team.

Position Description

The Core Thermal-Hydraulics team at Oklo is responsible for analyzing fluid flow and heat transfer within a reactor core. The work includes engineering analyses of thermal-fluid dynamics, clear and thorough documentation of the analyses, as well as interfacing with design teams. A engineer on the team will contribute to the development, qualification, and validation of methods for modeling coolant flow within reactor cores using one-dimensional models, intermediate-fidelity subchannel models, and high-fidelity computational fluid dynamics models.

Specific responsibilities may include:

• Modeling core thermal-hydraulic behavior using
  • subchannel codes such as DASSH, MOOSE-Subchannel, or COBRA-TF
  • one-dimensional systems codes such as SAS4A/SASSYS-1 or RELAP
  • first principles approaches and in-house flow network models
  • 3-D computational fluid dynamics
• Developing and documenting methods to analyze core thermal-hydraulic behavior at steady-state and during transients
• Automation, verification, and validation of modeling and simulation tools in support of analyses
• Collaborating cross-functionally to define design requirements, and providing technical feedback to quick-iterating design teams

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelors, Masters, or PhD in a technical field, such as nuclear, mechanical, or aerospace engineering
• Proficiency with thermal fluids (thermal-hydraulics) analysis methods and first principles
• Able to write clear and concise documentation
• Experience with
  • low-fidelity and intermediate-fidelity (e.g., porous body and correlation-based) models for heat transfer and fluid flow
  • numerical methods and software development for heat transfer and fluid flow problems
  • data processing (e.g., pre-processing, post-processing, scripting)

Bonus Qualifications

• Fluency with Python
• Demonstrated success in qualification and validation of analyses
• Experience with
  • CI/CD computing environments
  • reactor systems codes (RELAP or similar)
  • subchannel analysis codes (COBRA-TF or similar)
  • high-fidelity computational fluid dynamics analysis

Competencies

We are looking for a Thermal Fluids Engineer that is:

• Willing and able to learn quickly
• Deeply skilled in analysis of heat transfer and fluid flow in confined geometries
• Eager to work on a dynamic team, receive constructive feedback, and grow with us
• Excited to think creatively, critically, and reflectively about the problems they are solving
• Familiar with the importance of high-quality documentation