Maritime Nuclear Thermal-Hydraulics Engineer

Ocean Atomics; Bethesda (MD); On-site; USD 110,000 - 240,000; Full time

Job summary

Ocean Atomics seeks a Thermal-Hydraulics engineer to design and analyze coolant flow for their nuclear-ready maritime systems. You will work on core and primary systems, ensuring safe performance under normal and transient conditions and collaborating with testing teams for optimal instrumentation and data alignment.

The role emphasizes advanced CFD and thermal-hydraulic methods, including model validation and uncertainty reduction, with opportunities to impact shipborne energy infrastructure

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in nuclear or mechanical engineering required (advanced degree preferred).
• Experience in reactor thermal/hydraulic design and analysis.
• Proficiency with thermal/hydraulic and/or CFD codes (e.g., COBRA, VIPRE, STAR-CCM+, or equivalent).
• Strong grounding in fluid mechanics, heat transfer, and two-phase flow.
• Experience integrating experimental or test data into analytical models.

Responsibilities

• Design and analyze coolant flow through the core and primary systems, evaluating pressure drop, flow distribution, mixing, and heat transfer to optimize performance.
• Develop and refine thermal-hydraulic analysis methods, models, and correlations to support core and primary system design.
• Establish thermal margins and operating limits and feed results into design and safety analyses.
• Partner with the testing team to prioritize test campaigns, define instrumentation and conditions, and target the data most valuable to the design.
• Incorporate test data into analytical models via validating, calibrating, and benchmarking to reduce uncertainty and improve design fidelity.

Skills

Nuclear engineering

Mechanical engineering

CFD software

Heat transfer

Fluid mechanics

Two-phase flow

Analytical modeling

Test data integration

Education

Bachelor's degree in Nuclear or Mechanical Engineering

Advanced degree preferred

Tools

COBRA

VIPRE

STAR-CCM+

Job description

Ocean Atomics seeks a Thermal-Hydraulics engineer to design and analyze coolant flow for their nuclear-ready maritime systems. You will work on core and primary systems, ensuring safe performance under normal and transient conditions and collaborating with testing teams for optimal instrumentation and data alignment.

The role emphasizes advanced CFD and thermal-hydraulic methods, including model validation and uncertainty reduction, with opportunities to impact shipborne energy infrastructure