Project Overview:

Bechtel is the licensing, engineering, procurement, and construction partner on TerraPower’s Natrium team. Selected by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) for its Advanced Reactor Demonstration Program, Natrium is participating in a DOE initiative to re-establish U.S. leadership in nuclear energy that provides matching funding to industry to design and build an operational advanced reactor. TerraPower, a leading advanced generation technology company founded by former Microsoft CEO Bill Gates, will be deploying its 345 MWe sodium fast reactor (SFR), called Natrium. The Natrium plant features an advanced, cost-competitive reactor design that is safer, simpler, easier, and less costly to construct, less expensive to operate, and able to provide energy that is competitive with fossil fuels. It also features an innovative molten salt energy storage system designed to be complementary to solar and wind power by evening out the peaks and valleys in production when the sun is not shining, or the wind is not blowing. With the reactor and energy storage output combined, the plant can produce more than 500 MWe of power.

Other Team Natrium partners include GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy, Energy Northwest, PacifiCorp, and Duke Energy, along with support from a number of national laboratories and universities. This DOE Program has the potential to be the largest funding program for advanced nuclear power in U.S. history and will shape the future of nuclear energy for decades. We invite you to join our team for this historic and interesting opportunity! Bechtel work will be executed in Reston, Virginia. 

Position Summary:

Plans and conducts independent work for the Natrium project, requiring judgment in the evaluation, selection, application, and adaptation of engineering techniques, procedures, and criteria. Devises new approaches to solving problems.

Working knowledge of precedents in the specialty area, the principles, and practices of related technical areas, and of coordinating work with other technical disciplines.

Understands the standard engineering work planning, scheduling, and cost estimating, and conducts independent work requiring judgment in the application of engineering techniques. Normally uses conventional approaches to technical problems encountered. Provides technical assistance and may assign work to engineers, designers, and drafters who assist on specific assignments.

 Responsibilities:

Responsibilities may include, but are not limited to:

Design of Piping and Instrument Diagrams (P&IDs) for various plant systems.

Origination and review of system design criteria.

Origination and review of system design descriptions.

Specification and application of instrumentation and general control valves/appurtenances.

Preparation of control systems packages.

Generation of instrument data sheets and material requisitions.

Origination and review of setpoint calculations.

Design and review of digital and analog control logic.

Data entry to instrumentation, valve, and I/O databases.

Design and application of tubing and instrument installations, etc.

Allocation and layout of the facility control system I/O.

Coordination of physical locations of instrumentation, control valves, control cabinets, etc.

Design and review of cabinet layouts.

Design and review of control room layouts, with consideration of human factors.

Design and review of control system network architecture.

Review of control systems graphic displays.

Review of supplier-provided data and documentation.

Participate in supplier factory acceptance testing.

Coordination with other engineering disciplines and other functions.

Perform plant walk-downs and generate walk-down notes/packages.

Provide technical assistance to more junior engineers, designers, drafters.

Coordinate with client representatives, as required.

Qualifications and Skills

Basic Qualifications:

Level 1: Bachelor's Degree or advanced degree in Mechanical, Electrical, Chemical, or Nuclear Engineering from an accredited university or college with six (6) years of progressive related control systems design engineering experience; or in lieu of a degree, twelve (12) years of progressive related control systems design engineering experience.

Level 2: Bachelor's Degree or advanced degree in Mechanical, Electrical, Chemical, or Nuclear Engineering from an accredited university or college with nine (9) years of progressive related control systems design engineering experience; or in lieu of a degree, fifteen (15) years of progressive related control systems design engineering experience.

U.S. citizen or the ability to work in the U.S. without sponsorship.

Must be able to complete a pre-employment drug screen and background check.

Must have experience with power plant process systems.

Minimum Qualifications:

Experience in power plant or DOE facility design.

Knowledge of industry and regulatory guides, codes, and standards.

Must have excellent verbal and written communication, planning, and organizational skills.

Proficiency with Microsoft 365 application suite (e.g., Word, Excel, Access, Visio, PowerPoint, etc.) and other related computer programs required to perform job functions.

Extensive knowledge of control systems engineering work processes, procedures, and specifications.

Willingness to travel on business trips in support of the project.

Ability to obtain Professional Engineer's (PE) License, or equivalent, within 12 months of hire.

Preferred Qualifications:

Four (4) years of experience in an engineering leadership or a supervisory role, including planning work and executing work on a budget.

Knowledge of Bechtel Digital Supply Chain System and/or Oracle Agile for material requisitions.

Good knowledge of Bechtel administrative practices.

Current working knowledge of engineering automation tools (e.g., Aveeva).

Current U.S. Professional Engineer’s (PE) License, or equivalent.

Full time telework may be available for this position with potential travel of up to 25% to work at the project location in Reston, VA. Initial two-week business trip to Reston, VA is required for onboarding.