Senior Molten Salt Engineer

Description

SHINE is seeking a Senior Molten Salt Engineer to support two of our product lines: transmutation of used nuclear fuel (UNF) and fusion power. The US has more than 95,000 metric tons of used nuclear fuel and nowhere to put it; transmutation reduces the long-lived actinides that drive its long-term radiotoxicity. Fusion power plants need a blanket that breeds its own tritium and carries heat out of the machine. Both depend on molten salts – chlorides for transmutation, fluorides for the fusion blanket – and on engineers who can make them pure, keep them that way at temperature, and keep them from corroding the systems that hold them.

The Senior Molten Salt Engineer owns SHINE’s molten salt capability, from the glovebox to the pilot system. Key responsibilities include preparing and purifying chloride and fluoride salts; designing, building, and operating salt test loops and experimental rigs; generating the salt chemistry, property, and materials data that the designs depend on; and turning those results into design requirements for the transmutation and fusion blanket systems. The role then carries salt-wetted systems through preliminary and detailed design, working with SHINE R&D, the design team, and vendors, and participates in acceptance testing and commissioning.

The job takes judgment as much as method. Design at SHINE is expected to be as simple as it can safely be made. In molten salt work, that means testing early, letting data rather than assumption set the requirements on salt chemistry, materials, and components, and saying so when a requirement is not earning its keep – to the Chief Engineer, to licensing, and to vendors.

Hybrid work arrangement will be considered; however, this role requires regular onsite presence for laboratory and test work. Our key facilities are in Janesville and Fitchburg, WI. Candidates may be asked to travel occasionally for team meetings, partner laboratory work, or vendor engagements, depending on business needs.

The base salary range for this position is $100,000 - $120,000 per year plus a comprehensive compensation package. Our salary ranges are determined by role, level, and location.

Duties and Responsibilities:

Specific duties and responsibilities include, but are not limited to:

Build and Run the Salt Test Capability

• Develop and maintain methods for synthesis, purification, and handling of chloride salts (e.g., NaCl–MgCl2, KCl–MgCl2, and actinide-bearing chlorides) and fluoride salts (e.g., FLiBe, FLiNaK), including moisture and oxygen control under inert atmosphere.
• Design, build, and operate glovebox-scale experiments and flowing salt test loops, including heaters and trace heating, freeze/thaw management, circulation, valves, instrumentation, and cover-gas systems.
• Establish salt chemistry and redox control, and the analytical methods to verify it (e.g., electrochemical redox monitoring, ICP-based impurity analysis, oxide and moisture measurement).
• Plan and execute corrosion and materials compatibility testing of candidate structural alloys in chloride and fluoride salts, and work with materials specialists to interpret the results.
• Measure or obtain the thermophysical and chemical property data needed for design (e.g., liquidus, density, viscosity, heat capacity, thermal conductivity, actinide and fission product solubility),and document their pedigree.
• For fusion blanket salts, support tritium breeding and extraction development, including tritium solubility, permeation, and removal from salt and cover gas.
• Work initially with depleted uranium and non-radioactive surrogates, and develop the handling approach for radioactive salts as the programs advance.

Own the Design of Salt-Wetted Systems

• Own the process design of assigned salt systems: process flow diagrams, P&IDs, material and energy balances, equipment sizing, and the design requirements that flow from them.
• Prepare and review design packages, specifications, test plans, calculations, reports, and drawings in the following areas:
  • High-temperature piping, vessels, valves, and heat tracing
  • Salt chemistry, purification, and redox control
  • Materials selection and corrosion allowance
  • Fluid flow and heat transfer in molten salt systems
  • Cover gas, off-gas, and tritium management
  • Confinement and controls for hazardous materials (e.g., beryllium, HF, HCl)
  • Other chemical and mechanical calculations
• Apply a graded approach to the requirements on assigned systems: justify each one, and take the ones that cannot be justified to the Chief Engineer for removal.
• Lead or participate in hazard and operability studies (HAZOPs) and design reviews for assigned systems, and close the actions that come out of them.
• Write equipment specifications and requirements documents that vendors can build to, and work with procurement and vendors through fabrication.
• Prepare or review test plans, participate in factory and site acceptance testing, and perform owner’s acceptance reviews of vendor-provided reports and calculations.
• Perform walk-downs of installed equipment in the field.

Requirements

• Ability to oversee multiple projects/activities in an environment with changing priorities.
• Willingness to learn, understand, and develop new technology.
• Hands-on experience handling molten salts, or comparable high-temperature reactive media such as liquid metals, under inert atmosphere.
• Evidence of having designed, built, and operated a first-of-a-kind experimental system or test loop in a team environment, carried it through testing, and of what they would do differently.
• Demonstrated judgment on conservatism: has challenged a default design requirement and found a path that was as safe or safer and materially simpler, faster or less expensive.
• Ability to critically evaluate information, and the confidence to ask questions when things do not make sense.
• Excellent communication and teamwork skills.
• Bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering, Nuclear Engineering, Materials Science and Engineering, Chemistry, or related discipline; MS or PhD preferred.
• 7+ years of engineering or research experience (PhD work may be included).

The following experience is preferred:

o Molten salt chemistry, including purification, redox control, and impurity analysis

o Corrosion and materials compatibility testing in molten salts

o Design and operation of high-temperature flow loops, including pumps, valves, freeze/thaw, and instrumentation

o Glovebox operations and inert-atmosphere handling

o Writing requirements documents and working with vendors on final system design and testing

Experience in any of the following areas would make a candidate stand out:

o Actinide-bearing salts, or other work with radioactive materials

o Tritium behavior in fluoride salts, or fusion blanket development

o Electrochemistry in molten salts

o A national laboratory, university, or industry molten salt reactor or fusion blanket program

o Beryllium handling under a chronic beryllium disease prevention program

o Scaling a process or system from laboratory to pilot scale

Working Conditions and Physical Effort:

• Moderate physical activity. May require handling of average-weight objects up to 25 pounds or standing and/or walking for more than four (4) hours per day.
• Work involves regular exposure to laboratory environments and occasional exposure to industrial and construction environments.
• Work involves handling high-temperature molten salts and hazardous materials, which may include beryllium compounds, corrosive gases (e.g., HF, HCl), and depleted uranium or other radioactive materials. Requires following established safety procedures and use of personal protective equipment, and may require participation in medical surveillance programs.

Employees must be able to perform the essential functions of the position satisfactorily. If requested, reasonable accommodation will be made to enable employees with disabilities to perform the essential functions of this job, absent undue hardship.

Eligibility for employment is conditioned on the applicant’s ability to qualify for access to information subject to U.S. Export Controls. Additionally, applicant’s eligibility may be conditioned based upon meeting the Nuclear Regulatory Commission requirements for access to Safeguards Information, which typically requires a pre-employment drug screen, fingerprinting and criminal background check.

SHINE values diversity in all its forms as a critical component of innovation, which is fundamental to our success. Every member of the SHINE community benefits from the talents and experiences of our peers, from the mutual respect we exercise, and from the responsibility we take for our actions.

SHINE Technologies, LLC maintains affirmative action plans for individuals with disabilities and protected veterans. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, or protected veteran status.

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