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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.
S. R. Dwivedi, H. C. Gupta
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 92 | Number 4 | April 1986 | Pages 545-549
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE86-A18611
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The Monte Carlo scheme for deep-penetration problems, where both transport and collision kernels are biased synergistically, leads to minimum variance. Obtaining a proper biasing parameter is still a problem. For certain values of biasing parameter, the variance could be infinite even in a very simple problem. Using moment equations of statistical error prediction, a critical biasing parameter is obtained. A biasing parameter greater than the critical parameter may lead to an unbounded second moment in a simple one-dimensional homogeneous shield problem. A prescription is provided that may help to avoid a poor selection of the biasing parameter.