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DOE selects first companies for nuclear launch pad
The Department of Energy’s Office of Nuclear Energy and the National Reactor Innovation Center have announced their first selections for the Nuclear Energy Launch Pad: three companies developing microreactors and one developing fuel supply.
The four companies—Deployable Energy, General Matter, NuCube Energy, and Radiant Industries—were selected from the initial pool of Reactor Pilot Program and Fuel Line Pilot Program applicants, the two precursor programs to the launch pad.
Scott D. Ramsey, Roy A. Axford, Gregory J. Hutchens
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 166 | Number 1 | September 2010 | Pages 73-81
Technical Note | doi.org/10.13182/NSE09-63TN
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Stochastic point kinetics neglecting delayed neutrons has been subject to rigorous analysis in the years since its introduction. Many approximate solutions appearing within this context are based upon the “quadratic approximation,” where fission multiplicity is truncated at two. In this technical note we review the quadratic approximation within the context of a stochastic, space-independent, one-energy-group model neglecting delayed neutrons and its generalization to higher-order approximations in transient and stationary systems. This generalization results in the probability of a zero neutron population for a source-free system being governed by transcendental and polynomial algebraic equations in the transient and infinite time limit cases, respectively. For 239Pu, we solve the transcendental equation over a wider range of prompt multiplication factors and times than has been previously accomplished. We also reproduce and generalize associated solutions of the polynomial algebraic equation. In both cases, solutions are computed for successive generalizations of the quadratic approximation to higher-order maximum fission multiplicity.