By Jaime Cookson
Brittany Umbrage left a career as a real estate appraiser to return to school at the University of New Mexico. Although she initially studied chemical engineering, when Umbrage took a radiation protection class as an elective, she fell in love and changed her emphasis to nuclear engineering.
Umbrage spent her summer internship at INL working on probabilistic risk analysis software to extend the life of the existing nuclear fleet by predicting the degradation of different components in the secondary loop. She hopes that by developing these models, they can be extended into the upcoming generation of reactors.
Umbrage said her internship was a much different experience than being in school, adding that she enjoyed having the chance to become more advanced in one topic, rather than having only a broad overview of an entire field.
“It’s been challenging and I’ve had to really push my limits and go outside to find new sources of information,” she said. Umbrage said that moving from a school environment to INL has boosted her confidence in her own abilities.
In her spare time, Umbrage took advantage of Idaho Falls’ proximity to national parks, hiking in the Tetons and in Yellowstone. She even had the chance to try paddle boarding.
Although her ultimate goal is to be a reactor operator, Umbrage enjoyed the opportunity to meet employees with different backgrounds and make professional contacts at INL. She is also took full advantage of the opportunity to learn new skills, such as coding, which was an essential part of her internship.
