Senior Reactor Fuel Engineer

Protingent; Oak Ridge (TN); On-site; USD 175,000 - 190,000; Full time

Job summary

Protingent Staffing is seeking a Senior Reactor Fuel Engineer for a direct-hire role in Oak Ridge, TN. You will lead irradiation testing strategy, specimen definition, and readiness for safety-testing programs across multiple facilities and partners.

The ideal candidate holds an advanced degree in Nuclear/Materials/Mechanical Engineering and has 7+ years of irradiation testing experience, with strong knowledge of NQA-1 quality requirements, test plans, and cross-facility leadership.

Qualifications

• Advanced degree in Nuclear Engineering, Materials Science, Mechanical Engineering, or a closely related technical discipline.

Responsibilities

• Develop and maintain irradiation, PIE, and post-irradiation safety-testing strategy with objectives, evidence, acceptance criteria, schedules, gates and contingencies.
• Translate fuel-design requirements into representative specimen populations and measurable irradiation and accident-test conditions.
• Lead interfaces with research reactors, hot cells, labs, shipping orgs, and national labs or universities.
• Coordinate experiment design, safety approvals, neutronics, thermal analysis, dosimetry, instrumentation, and readiness reviews.
• Ensure specimen identity, pedigree, pre-irradiation characterization, chain of custody, packaging, and storage.
• Establish partnerships for PIE and safety testing addressing dimensional change, coating failure, and fission-product behavior.
• Issue as-run, PIE, safety-test and qualification reports with reconstructed histories and uncertainties.

Skills

Nuclear fuels testing

Test plan development

Technical project leadership

Education

Advanced degree in Nuclear/Materials/Mechanical Engineering

Job description

Position Title: Senior Reactor Fuel Engineer Position Description: Protingent Staffing has an exciting direct hire Senior Reactor Fuel Engineer opportunity.

Job Responsibilities:

• Integrated Test Strategy: Develop and maintain irradiation, PIE, and post-irradiation safety-testing strategy, including test objectives, evidence needs, acceptance criteria, schedules, decision gates, and contingency plans.
• Specimen & Condition Definition: Translate fuel-design requirements, failure mechanisms, model-validation needs, and safety-analysis conditions into representative specimen populations and measurable irradiation and accident-test conditions.
• Facility Integration: Lead technical and contractual interfaces with research reactors, hot cells, furnace-testing laboratories, analytical laboratories, shipping organizations, and national-laboratory or university partners.
• Readiness & Execution: Coordinate experiment design, safety approvals, neutronics, thermal analysis, dosimetry, instrumentation, fission-product monitoring, specimen loading, test operations, hold points, and formal readiness reviews.
• Specimen Control: Ensure specimen identity, manufacturing pedigree, pre-irradiation characterization, representativeness, chain of custody, packaging, transportation, storage, and nuclear-material controls remain complete and traceable.
• PIE & Safety Testing: Establishing partnerships that allow for the direct examinations and testing addressing dimensional change, cracking, coating failure, particle-matrix interactions, fission-product distribution, release behavior, microstructure, and accident-temperature retention.
• Evidence Delivery: Issue complete as-run, PIE, safety-test, anomaly, and qualification-impact reports with reconstructed exposure histories, quantified uncertainties, controlled data, independent review, and regulator-ready conclusions.

Job Qualifications:

• Education: Advanced degree in Nuclear Engineering, Materials Science, Mechanical Engineering, or a closely related technical discipline.
• Nuclear Fuels Testing and Reporting: 7+ years of experience in irradiation testing, nuclear-fuel examination, high-temperature safety testing, or complex nuclear experiments.
• Demonstrated experience developing test plans, experiment specifications, specimen matrices, readiness reviews, and qualification-grade technical reports.
• Nuclear Reactor Familiarity: Working knowledge of research-reactor interfaces, dosimetry, instrumentation, thermal analysis, fission-product monitoring, and as-run condition reconstruction.
• Familiarly with NQA-1 Quality Requirements: Experience working under nuclear Quality Assurance requirements with controlled procedures, calibrated equipment, chain of custody, nonconformance control, and records management.
• Technical Project Leadership: Proven ability to coordinate multiple facilities, suppliers, technical disciplines, contracts, schedules, and long-lead nuclear activities.

Preferred Job Qualifications:

• Direct experience with TRISO, FCM, HTGR, coated-particle, or advanced ceramic nuclear fuel.
• Leadership experience with HFR, MITR, ATR, HFIR, or a comparable research-reactor experiment.
• Experience executing irradiated-fuel furnace testing, fission-product release measurements, or other accident-condition fuel tests.
• Familiarity with HALEU specimens, nuclear-material transportation, international test-facility interfaces, and DOE AGR fuel evidence.

Job Details:

Job Type: Fulltime Salary Range:$175-190k Location: Oak Ridge, TN (Onsite)

About Protingent:

Protingent is an Award-Winning provider of top-tier Engineering and IT talent, trusted by companies at the forefront of innovation — from Software and Aerospace to AI, Clean Tech, Medical Devices, and Connected Technologies. We’re passionate about making a positive impact by connecting exceptional talent with meaningful opportunities and helping our clients build the future.