ANS is committed to advancing, fostering, and promoting the development and application of nuclear sciences and technologies to benefit society.
Explore the many uses for nuclear science and its impact on energy, the environment, healthcare, food, and more.
Explore membership for yourself or for your organization.
Conference Spotlight
2026 Nuclear Energy Conference & Expo (NECX)
August 24–27, 2026
Dallas, TX|Hilton Anatole
Latest Magazine Issues
Jul 2026
Jan 2026
2026
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
August 2026
Nuclear Technology
July 2026
Fusion Science and Technology
Latest News
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.
R. I. Smith
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 21 | Number 4 | April 1965 | Pages 481-489
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE65-A18792
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The change in k∞ of a heterogeneous lattice caused by a uniform change in the temperature of the fuel has been measured, using the Physical Constants Testing Reactor (PCTR). The test lattice was moderated with graphite and fueled with concentric-tube elements of slightly enriched uranium metal. The temperature of the fuel was varied from 297 to 1241°K. The change in k∞ with temperature was nonlinear and could be represented by the relation where T is in degrees Kelvin. The experimentally measured values of the constants were α = (−0.308 ± 0.004), β = (−0.120 ± 0.004), γ = (−0.085 ± 0.004). The unit functions, U, represent the changes in k∞ caused by the isothermal volume expansion of the fuel element when the uranium metal undergoes transformations in its crystal structure from alpha to beta and from beta to gamma phases. The term C is a normalization factor related to the lattice under study. The reactivity techniques employed here are shown to be four times more sensitive than activation methods for determining the functional relationship between the effective resonance integral of a fuel element and the temperature of the element. The constant, α, has been experimentally separated into two components: αv = (−0.240 ± 0.04). which is associated with the average interior temperature of the fuel, and αs = (−0.068 ± 0.04), which is associated with the temperature of the surface of the fuel. This separation allows treatment of nonuniform temperature distribution in the fuel.