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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.
J. Hirota, M. Nakano, S. Iijima, K. Shirakata
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 87 | Number 3 | July 1984 | Pages 252-261
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE84-A17781
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
An experimental study of the heterogeneous liquid-metal fast breeder reactor core has been made using FCA VII-3 assemblies of an axially heterogeneous configuration. The internal blankets inserted in these assemblies differed in composition, arrangement, and thickness. The analysis was carried out using the Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute Fast Set Version II and the diffusion code in R-Z geometry. The S4 calculation was made to evaluate the transport effects. Comparison between the calculated and experimental results reveals that the eigenvalue and the plutonium sample worth in the core are underestimated for the heterogeneous assembly, although they are well represented for the homogeneous assembly. The 238U capture rate is underestimated in the internal blanket relative to the core of the heterogeneous assembly. Further study is needed to solve the inconsistent prediction of the sodium-void worth observed between the heterogeneous and homogeneous assemblies.