--- title: 'Chemistry and Radiological Controls Lead at BlueCore Energy' canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/chemistry-and-radiological-controls-lead-bluecore-energy-long-beach-z34fxtmzwr0p' type: 'job' last_seen: '2026-09-07' --- # Chemistry and Radiological Controls Lead at BlueCore Energy - **Company:** BlueCore Energy - **Location:** Long Beach - **Employment:** full-time - **Work type:** onsite - **Posted:** 2026-08-22 - **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-07 - **Apply:** https://jobs.lever.co/bluecore-energy/e6498947-d07b-433c-ac01-5f77116da95e ## Job description Our Mission Is Simple: Democratize Access To Clean Energy Welcome to BlueCore Energy! We are on a relentless mission to democratize access to clean energy. By designing and building advanced floating Pressurized Water Reactors (PWRs) on barges right here in Long Beach, CA, we are bringing scalable, clean, and reliable power to the world. Joining our team means getting in on the ground floor of a revolution in marine small modular reactors (SMRs). If you are passionate, driven, and ready to tackle some of the most exciting challenges of our time, we want you on our team! ## Our Values Humility — We hold strong opinions loosely, say "I don't know," ask for help early, and let the best idea win regardless of who it came from. Inclusivity — The best engineering comes from many perspectives. We build a team where everyone is heard, and we mean it. Pragmatism — We solve the real problem in front of us, reuse what already works, and value a tested answer over an elegant one. ## About the Role The Chemistry and Materials Lead will build the water chemistry programs and select the materials for Nautilus, BlueCore's flagship floating nuclear power plant. You will be the person who specifies the alloys, elastomers, and coatings for every wetted surface in the plant, designs the chemistry regimes that protect them, builds the sampling and monitoring infrastructure to verify it all works, and designs the radioactive waste processing systems that manage the resulting effluents. Sitting across the Certification and Operations Departments, this role is equal parts corrosion engineer, water chemist, waste system designer, and licensing contributor. For a barge-mounted PWR operating in a working port with seawater as the ultimate heat sink, you will solve chemistry and materials challenges that have no direct commercial precedent in the United States: condenser and heat exchanger materials selected for seawater service, condensate systems sized for a marine platform, chemical storage and waste processing under severe space and weight constraints, and effluent management under overlapping NRC, EPA, USCG, and port authority requirements. Beyond Nautilus, you will establish the chemistry and materials standards for fleet-wide deployment across commercial ports globally. ## Responsibilities Own primary, secondary, and condensate chemistry program design, including water chemistry regime selection, chemical addition system design, and sampling system design from sample points through analytical endpoints. Drive material selection for all fluid systems in coordination with mechanical and reactor engineering, including alloy specification for primary pressure boundary components, steam generator tubing, condenser tubing, feedwater and condensate piping, heat exchangers, and auxiliary systems. Design the sampling and monitoring architecture for the plant, including online analyzer selection and placement, grab sample station layout, sample cooler and tubing specification, and the instrumentation needed to support chemistry surveillance with a lean operating crew. Develop the bulk chemical storage, delivery, and makeup water systems for a barge-based platform, accounting for space, weight, and marine resupply logistics. Design the liquid and gaseous radioactive waste processing systems for a marine platform, including holdup, treatment, monitoring, and discharge pathways that satisfy NRC effluent limits and port authority requirements. Author and support chemistry sections of the DOE safety basis (DSA, TSRs) and NRC license application (FSAR Chapters 5, 9, and 11), including reactor coolant chemistry, auxiliary systems, and radioactive waste management. Coordinate cross-functionally with reactor engineering, mechanical design, operations, licensing, and executive leadership to ensure chemistry and materials requirements are embedded into plant design, operating procedures, and safety submittals from day one. Travel to vendor facilities, NRC headquarters, national laboratories, and port locations for technical coordination and regulatory engagement. Required Qualifications & Skills Deep experience in nuclear plant chemistry, corrosion engineering, or radiochemistry. Demonstrated ability to make material selection decisions for nuclear fluid systems, not just operate within an existing chemistry program. You should be able to explain why one alloy, amine, or oxygen scavenging strategy is right for a given application and the failure modes associated with an incorrect selection. Familiarity with radioactive waste processing system design, including liquid and gaseous waste treatment, holdup calculations, and effluent discharge compliance. Desired Qualifications & Skills Candidates who have worked in environments where chemistry and materials decisions are tightly coupled (naval nuclear propulsion, steam generator programs, SMR development) are strongly preferred. Working at BlueCore Energy On-Site Requirement: Our team works together at our Long Beach facility, right next to our barge. Highly Cross-Functional: Startups move fast! You must possess the ability to seamlessly collaborate across multiple teams to rapidly solve problems and keep production moving. Physical & Machinery Requirements: Because we are a hands-on startup, this role may require the ability to perform physical labor, navigate active construction/manufacturing zones, and/or operate heavy machinery and specialized manufacturing equipment as needed. ## About BlueCore Energy ## Company Overview - **One-liner**: BlueCore Energy develops small modular water-cooled nuclear reactors on floating barges to deliver zero-emission power to ports, cities, and critical infrastructure. - **Entity Type**: Private (Pre-Seed) - **Headquarters**: Long Beach, California, USA - **Founded**: 2026 - **Founders**: Kofi Asante ## Core Business - **Primary industry**: Nuclear energy, maritime energy, small modular reactors (SMRs) - **Target customers**: B2B – ports, utilities, data centers, offshore infrastructure, communities facing energy constraints - **Mission**: To bring floating nuclear power to the ports and infrastructure that move the world, and eventually to the ships that connect them. ## Products & Services - **Floating Nuclear Barge (10 MWe)**: A compact, water-cooled reactor mounted on a barge that can be moored at a port, connected to the grid via subsea cables, and refueled only once every few years. Designed to power the equivalent of ~15,000 homes or scale to meet a major port’s energy needs. Multiple units can be paired for larger capacity. ## Market Standing - **Valuation / Market Cap**: Not disclosed - **Key Metric**: Total funding – $10M (pre-seed, oversubscribed, July 2026) - **Notable Investors / Partners**: Slauson & Co. (lead investor in pre-seed round) - **Growth Signals**: - Emerged from stealth in July 2026 with a physical barge and test reactor already delivered to its headquarters at the Port of Long Beach – the first SMR company to establish a headquarters inside a major U.S. port. - Team drawn from SpaceX, Blue Origin, Northrop Grumman, Toyota, Uber, and U.S. Navy nuclear submarine program. - Actively working on engineering, regulatory (NRC), classification, and commercialization pathways. ## Competitive Advantages - **Location & Physical Execution**: First SMR company to have a base inside a major U.S. port (Port of Long Beach), enabling direct integration with maritime infrastructure. - **Team Expertise**: Deep-tech and nuclear pedigree – founders and leads have launched autonomous aircraft, electric tugboats, and SpaceX vehicles; naval nuclear officers bring real-world reactor operations experience. - **Design Philosophy**: Safety built on defense-in-depth, five barriers, water-based cooling, and passive systems – leveraging 70+ years of proven light-water reactor technology. ## Strategic Focus - **Current priorities**: Deploy the first floating reactor, secure regulatory approvals, advance component testing (hardware + digital twin), and build a production line for rapid deployment. - **Long-term vision**: Scale from port-side power generation to cargo ship propulsion, creating a new clean-energy backbone for the maritime economy. ## Why Work Here - **Culture**: Early-stage startup moving at “hard-tech” speed – physically building at a working port, combining hardware and software development. - **Work policy**: On-site, full-time roles at the Port of Long Beach (as of current job listings). - **Notable perks / engineering culture**: Opportunity to work on nuclear energy systems from day one alongside veterans of SpaceX, Blue Origin, and the U.S. Navy. Roles span electrical, thermal-hydraulics, controls, chemistry, and quality – with a focus on real-world hardware and regulatory safety. ## Sources 1. [bluecore.energy](https://www.bluecore.energy/) 2. [bluecore.energy (team)](https://www.bluecore.energy/team) 3. [bluecore.energy (stealth launch)](https://www.bluecore.energy/post/bluecore-energy-emerges-from-stealth) 4. [techcrunch.com](https://techcrunch.com/2026/07/21/this-uber-alumn-just-raised-a-10m-pre-seed-to-build-portable-nuclear-enegry/) 5. [jobs.lever.co](https://jobs.lever.co/bluecore-energy) ## Other roles at BlueCore Energy - [General Application](https://feeny.ai/job/general-application-bluecore-energy-long-beach-ztdma72g9qnw) — Long Beach - [Reactor Operations Lead](https://feeny.ai/job/reactor-operations-lead-bluecore-energy-long-beach-2sc44fat2keg) — Long Beach - [Principal Thermal-Hydraulics & Safety Analysis Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/principal-thermal-hydraulics-safety-analysis-engineer-bluecore-energy-long-beach-rxb70v4aw15h) — Long Beach - [Lead Reactor Physics & Shielding Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/lead-reactor-physics-shielding-engineer-bluecore-energy-long-beach-w3z07n2hzpce) — Long Beach - [Supply Chain Lead](https://feeny.ai/job/supply-chain-lead-bluecore-energy-long-beach-34r1fwnjqc38) — Long Beach - [Fuel Lifecycle Lead](https://feeny.ai/job/fuel-lifecycle-lead-bluecore-energy-long-beach-83fztgvwaggf) — Long Beach - [Mechanical Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/mechanical-engineer-bluecore-energy-long-beach-xrtry97tw8rm) — Long Beach - [Senior Electrical Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-electrical-engineer-bluecore-energy-long-beach-vwf74tr5z8cm) — Long Beach