AREVA (2005 - 2012)

Thermal Hydraulics and Safety Analysis Subject Matter Expert, Principal Engineer

Statistical methods and mathematics, Code development and programming, Code licensing, Critical heat flux, Design of experiments, Engineering testing, Data systems and quality, Engineering methods development, Data and systems modeling, Regulatory affiars

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2013 – 2015      Thermal Hydraulic Lead/Advisory Engineer,

2012 – 2013       Thermal Hydraulics Advisory Engineer​

• Provided supervision, technical guidance, and coordination to the thermal-hydraulic engineering group consisting of engineers and contractors

• Performed and mentored severe accident analyses, test design, data analysis, nuclear fuel and thermal hydraulic design, and system response analyses

• Derived the thermal-hydraulic core protection methodology for the mPower design, and provided guidance on other thermal hydraulic and safety related analyses  (e.g. DNB Core Protection methodology, VIPRE-01 validation and verification, core pressure drop tests and data analysis, critical heat flux test design, data analysis and correlation development, postulated accident analysis methodology, rod and assembly bow methodologies, impact of core flow asymmetry, engineering penalty factor determination)

• Authored and reviewed safety related technical reports, topical reports, test specifications, test reports, contractor reports, procurement documents, audit reports, apparent and root cause investigations, and organizational procedures and guidelines

• Performed engineering analyses to investigate and resolve numerous technical concerns raised by engineers, in response to regulatory inquiries, and in aid of product development

• Performed preliminary investigative CFD analysis of flow redistribution in the lower core plenum

• Presented new engineering methods to the U.S.NRC, external industrial and academic experts (e.g. MIT expert panel), and international nuclear energy authorities (e.g. Atomic Energy Authority, Sri Lanka)

• Authored and reviewed numerous technical documents including topical reports, position statements, white papers, policy statements, and journal papers

• Identified potential markets to develop strategies and networks, and made presentations of high impact to potential international customers

• Created and maintained detailed schedules for the thermal hydraulic group and reconciled them with other groups in support of organizational project management (Primavera–P6)

• Examined and evaluated the effectiveness of organizational processes and procedures to meet regulatory requirements using apparent and root cause analyses in the area of safety related testing, vendor/contractor compliance to regulatory requirements, and commercial grade dedication

• Evaluated protocols and procedures at Stern Laboratories in Ontario, Canada (where nuclear critical heat flux tests are conducted) as applicable to Babcock and Wilcox mPower, and proposed procedural and protocol corrections to ensure adequate data quality, traceability and legacy, which were implemented

• Regularly trained and mentored junior engineers and wrote guidelines to adopt industrial best practices for achieving due diligence and enhanced  quality leading to significant gains in quality and efficiency

• Implemented team function protocols to improve the quality of analyses and reviews (e.g. First Pass Acceptance, Performance Tracking and Analysis)

• Established methods to obtain team member feedback, which was used for assessing current practices and to create or redesign processes and guidelines 

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2011 – 2012   Principal Engineer,

2009 – 2011   Engineer IV         

• Mentored, trained, and educated engineers in nuclear thermal hydraulics and two phase flow, Statistical Monte Carlo methods, Statistical Theories, Design of Experiments, and various core and radiological protection methodologies

• Performed postulated accident analyses of operating nuclear power plants to assess thermal hydraulic safety, while working closely with customers (North Anna, Oconee, TMI, Davis Besse,  Sequoyah, St. Lucie, San Onofre) to provide critical support for continued safe plant operation

• Significantly revised and generalized the Statistical Fuel Assembly Hold Down Methodology by using advanced concepts in statistical sampling theory

• Significantly revised and expanded the Statistical Core Design Methodology including the Response Surface Model (RSM) concept, using principles of mathematical topology to remove methodological constraints

• Authored the BHTP Critical Heat Flux (CHF) correlation, Statistical Core Design Methodology and Statistical Hold down Methodology topical reports for Bellefonte

• Performed independent technical evaluations of the Boling Water Reactor (BWR) K‑Factor methodology revision (AREVA – Richland, WA), playing a key role in the project  

• Represented the United States in AREVA’s global team of thermal hydraulic experts (US, Germany, and France) in developing new fuel designs and determining performance improvement strategies

• Worked as a key member of design review boards (DRB) and global technical think tanks  

• Designed and conducted critical heat flux tests (including data acquisition and validation) at KATHY test facility in Karlstein, Germany to test fuel performance and safety in nuclear reactors, (in the capacity of the US subject expert)

• Planned and coordinated the COBRA‑FLX code validation project, performed critical components of analyses and provided guidance and supervision to other analysts (The NRC review time to receive the U.S. NRC approval was the record minimum, which reflected the high quality of the project outcome)

• Diagnosed and proposed solutions to address issues related to engineering processes at KATHY test facility in Karlstein, Germany (protecting data integrity, post-test inspections, and dissemination of information) leading to the implementation of  new protocols across AREVA’s operations in Germany

• Evaluated safety aspects (e.g. set point methods, core safety limits) of nuclear core designs in new and operating nuclear power plants, ensuring the fulfilment of nuclear safety

• Presented and successfully defended advanced engineering concepts nationally and internationally (e. g. U.S.NRC, Internal and external expert review panels, international design review boards)

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2008 – 2009       Engineer IV

2005 – 2007       Engineer III,

• Performed Boiling Water Reactor (BWR) thermal-hydraulic analyses of ATRIUM‑10A and ATRIUM‑10XM fuel designs related to core safety and reviewed other related safety documents

• Developed new engineering concepts and methods for the probabilistic core safety analysis code: STATICS, to reduce uncertainty on reactor set points while satisfying technical safety requirements

• Created the XCOBRA global database for COBRA-FLX thermal hydraulic code development

• Provided thermal hydraulic technical expertise to develop a global critical heat flux correlation of wide parameter applicability to include postulated design basis accident analysis

• Established symmetric thermal hydraulic core modeling analytical standards for normal operation, anticipated operational occurrences (AOO) and postulated accidents in the EPR reactor design (which were subsequently applied to other reactor designs)

• Derived libraries of nuclear fuel thermo-physical properties for differently enriched uranium and gadolinium fuel to predict fuel safety implications during reactor operation and spent fuel storage

• Conceptualized and derived a new comprehensive thermal hydraulic methodology for determining the extent of core damage and activity release, wrote the related computer software (FUELFAIL), performed in-depth accident analyses of existing and new reactors (e.g. Sequoyah, US EPR) to enhance radiological protection

• Performed design calculations and analyzed severe accidents to author US EPR system analysis documents for design certification

• Developed thermal hydraulic computational tools based on advanced mathematical theories to increase the efficacy and accuracy of design and accident analyses

• Established the thermal hydraulic core analytical basis for the US EPR satisfying the applicable safety and regulatory criteria as well as the industry best practices

• Regularly mentored and trained less experienced engineers in Thermal Hydraulic codes and methods