Post Doc

About the role

The Radioisotope Power Systems (RPS) Design Engineering Team serves as the nation's central hub for expertise in radioisotope power system design, bringing together deep technical capabilities in actinide chemistry, materials science of ceramics, high-temperature metallurgy, composite engineering, thermal and structural analysis, re-entry and impact modeling, systems engineering, and safety analysis. Guided by a vision to advance rigorous, modern engineering practices, the team defines and maintains the technical baseline for RPS designs while supporting the U.S. Government, program offices, and production agencies as trusted subject-matter experts. Its scope spans heat-source design, safety and requirements flowdown, anomaly resolution, and in-depth research through modeling and experimentation.

Responsibilities

• Optimization of the formation of ceramic solids by hot-pressing and characterization of these ceramic solids.
• Measurement and analysis of powder characteristics affecting coherence of hot-presses solids, including particle size distribution, surface area, and surface energy, and relating these characteristics to characteristic of the ceramic solid.
• Working with radioactive materials or hazardous materials.
• Applying scientific or engineering principles, practices, and tools to continuously improve manufacturing processes.
• Contributing to the successful completion of technical projects by assisting in the analysis, validation, implementation, and verification of practical solutions, and applying novel problem-solving methods to solve engineering problems.
• Assisting in the writing of technical documents and presenting technical work at internal and external meetings, seminars, and conferences.
• Working with radioactive materials or hazardous materials.

Requirements

Minimum Job Requirements:

• Training and experience in ceramic engineering or ceramic fabrication, as demonstrated by experience in research, analysis, and publications in the field.
• Analytical thinking skills, including demonstrated experience in the analysis, manipulation, and interpretation of data.
• Demonstrated ability to document technical results in a formal method/format.
• Excellent communication and teamwork skills.
• Strong presentation skills.

Qualifications

Education/Experience:

• Position requires a doctorate degree in science or engineering from an accredited institution.

Desired Qualifications

• Demonstrated experience in designing and executing experiments to evaluate the performance of hot-pressing of actinide oxide solids and to improve the quality of manufacturing processes.
• Experience with gas management in nuclear fuels.
• Experience with modelling of density gradients and thermal loading in ceramic solids, in particular nuclear fuels.

Benefits

Our production partners come from all different backgrounds, and so do our employees. If you're passionate about what you could accomplish here, we'd love to hear from you.

Pay

Details on pay are not specified in the job posting.

Schedule

Details on schedule are not specified in the job posting.