  We generalize Anderson's orthogonality determinant formula to describe the
statistics of work performed on generic disordered, non-interacting fermionic
nanograins during quantum quenches. The energy absorbed increases linearly with
time, while its variance exhibits a superdiffusive behavior due to Pauli's
exclusion principle. The probability of adiabatic evolution decays as a
stretched exponential. In slowly driven systems, work statistics exhibits
universal features, and can be understood in terms of fermion diffusion in
energy space, generated by Landau-Zener transitions. This diffusion is very
well captured by a Markovian symmetrical exclusion process, with the diffusion
constant identified as the energy absorption rate. The energy absorption rate
shows an anomalous frequency dependence at small energies, reflecting the
symmetry class of the underlying Hamiltonian. Our predictions can be
experimentally verified by calorimetric measurements performed on nanoscale
circuits.
