Engineering Nuclear interview prep.

Behavioural questions to expect

1. Walk me through your engineering background + nuclear experience.
2. Tell me about a nuclear system or project you've worked on.
3. Why nuclear engineering vs other power or engineering paths?
4. Why this reactor + technology family - PWR / BWR / SMR / advanced (HTGR / SFR / MSR)?
5. Why the firm?
6. What's your read on our fleet + reactor portfolio + licensing posture?
7. Tell me what you understand about our safety culture + engineering rigor.
8. Walk me through a design-basis or safety-related design decision.

Technical concepts to master

• Defense-in-Depth + design-basis discipline

  Defense-in-Depth · Design basis · Safety classification (safety-related) · Single failure criterion · Environmental + seismic qualification (EQ + SQ)

• 10 CFR licensing + technical specifications

  Operating Licence (Part 50) vs COL (Part 52) · Tech specs + LCOs · 10 CFR 50.59 · Licence Amendment Request (LAR) · FSAR (Final Safety Analysis Report)

• QA program + design control

  10 CFR 50 Appendix B - 18 criteria · Design control · Configuration management + design baseline · Corrective Action Program (CAP) · Safety culture (INPO traits)

• PRA + risk-informed + INPO operating experience

  PRA Levels 1 / 2 / 3 · CDF + LERF thresholds · Risk-informed framework (RG 1.174 / 1.200) · Maintenance Rule (10 CFR 50.65) · INPO + WANO operating experience

Practical drills

• You're design engineer on a proposed modification - replacement of an obsolete safety-related valve actuator with a different manufacturer's part that meets the same functional spec but has different stroke time + thrust curve. Walk through your design + 50.59 evaluation approach.
• Mid-shift, surveillance on a train of an ESF system (e.g. EDG, AFW, HPI) fails its required surveillance. You're system engineer on call. Walk through your immediate response + LCO entry + restoration approach.
• Plant leadership wants to pursue a risk-informed initiative - either a risk-informed LAR to extend a completion time on a low-risk LCO, or 10 CFR 50.69 categorisation to remove special treatment from a subset of SSCs. Walk through the framework you'd apply + key risk thresholds + decision logic.

Smart-question anchors

• Fleet + reactor portfolio - PWR / BWR / SMR / advanced mix, MWe, licence basis + expiry, SLR / LTO
• Safety culture + INPO posture - INPO Index trend, CAP cadence, questioning-attitude indicators
• Regulatory posture - ROP column, recent NRC inspection findings, LERs, recent LARs
• QA + design control - NQA-1 / App B history, design-basis baseline maturity, configuration management
• PRA + risk-informed posture - PRA peer review status, 50.69 implementation, risk-informed LAR history

Sourced from

U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission - 10 CFR + Regulatory Guides + NUREGs + ADAMS · INPO + WANO standards (INPO 12-012, AP-913, peer-review framework) · ASME BPVC Section III + Section XI + ASME / ANS PRA Standard (RA-S-2008 / RA-Sb-2013) · RG 1.174 + RG 1.200 + RG 1.201 + NUREG-0800 SRP · IAEA INSAG + Safety Standards Series