Fuel R&D Technical Officer

at  Canadian Nuclear Laboratories

Our Advanced Fuels & Reactor Physics Branch is looking for a Fuel Research and Development Technical Officer!
The purpose of this position in Fuel Fabrication Science and Technology Section (FFS&T) is to support and deliver R&D fuel fabrication projects and activities. The position is essential to maintain equipment and laboratories in working condition; ensure compliance activities are carried out; develop new material fabrication methods and experimental set ups; deliver projects that require (active or inactive) sample preparation, characterization, possibly fuel repackaging; and develop strategies to carry out those activities. The selected candidate would be contributing to commercial and FST projects working on conventional and novel fuel fabrication methods such as Additive Manufacturing and Spark Plasma Sintering.
The FFS&T section’s activities include the fabrication and prototyping of nuclear fuel. These activities are targeted at the supporting the research and development needs for the Canadian nuclear industry. The section has been supporting the nuclear fuel R&D needs for the current fleet of CANDU reactors. The section also has completed production scale campaigns such as refueling the SLOWPOKE research reactors. Currently, the section is focused on building the fuel fabrication capability necessary to support the deployment of Small Modular Reactors (SMR). This includes fabrication and characterization of novel nuclear fuel materials such as molten salts and TRISO. The FFS&T section also leads the world in additive manufacturing of ceramic nuclear fuel materials and was the first group to report on this topic in 2018.
The Advanced Fuels and Reactor Physics Branch develops technologies for fabrication of advanced nuclear fuels, measures fuel material properties, fabricates and irradiates fuels in research reactors, conducts post-irradiation examinations to study the fuel performance characteristics, and conducts reactor physics calculations and experiments in ZED-2 research reactor.
The Fuel R&D Technical Officer supports activities in the Fuel Materials Section, which include: the thermo-physical properties measurements of nuclear fuel and other materials such as molten salts, required to support the development of advanced fuel materials; performance evaluation including safety, and increase of thermal properties knowledge. Tasks are multi-disciplinary, and include interfacing with staff from: advanced fuel manufacturing, hot-cells, physics, thermal hydraulics, safety, analytical chemistry, etc.

• Operating and maintaining of equipment in the FFS&T section, including furnaces, 3D printers, balances, and microscopes.
• Preparing and/or characterizing of specimens using metallography, chemical analysis, crystallography and thermo-physical characterization.
• Processing raw data manually and using automated data reduction schemes; reporting and interpreting experimental results.
• Contributing to, reviewing and/or writing reports, test plans, procedures, quality assurance documents, etc.;
• Maintaining records (databases, formal and informal documentation, lab notebooks, etc.);
• Preparing radioactive and non-radioactive samples for tests, which may include working with fume hoods and shielded facilities.
• Maintaining equipment in good operating condition and known calibration status, maintaining good housekeeping in the labs and offices;
• Working in a multi-disciplinary team environment, maintaining a clear focus on team goals, and establishing good rapport with groups and individuals of many diverse professions is required.
• Solving technical problems related to equipment, sample preparation and procedures;
• Participating in the safe operation of laboratories and equipment.
• Other duties as assigned by your manager.