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The deadline arrives: Checking in on the Reactor Pilot Program
On May 23, 2025, President Trump signed Executive Order 14301, “Reforming Nuclear Reactor Testing at the DOE,” which instructed the Department of Energy to create a Reactor Pilot Program (RPP)—a new system in which companies could pursue DOE authorization to build and test their first-of-a-kind nuclear technologies. EO 14301 set an ambitious goal for that program: three reactors achieving criticality by July 4, 2026.
B. Grant Logan, Roger O. Bangerter, Debra A. Callahan, Max Tabak, Markus Roth, L. John Perkins, George Caporaso
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 49 | Number 3 | April 2006 | Pages 399-411
Technical Paper | Fast Ignition | doi.org/10.13182/FST06-A1158
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Critical issues and ion beam requirements are explored for fast ignition using ion beams to provide fuel compression using indirect drive and to provide separate short-pulse ignition heating using direct drive. Several ion species with different hohlraum geometries are considered for both accelerator-produced and laser-produced ion ignition beams. Ion-driven fast ignition targets are projected to have modestly higher gains than with conventional heavy ion fusion and may offer some other advantages for target fabrication and for use of advanced fuels. However, much more analysis and additional experiments are needed before conclusions can be drawn regarding the feasibility for meeting the ion beam transverse and longitudinal emittances, focal spots, pulse lengths, and target standoff distances required for ion-driven fast ignition.