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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.
A. K. Ghatak and S. Pearlstein
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 22 | Number 2 | June 1965 | Pages 182-190
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE65-A20237
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A numerical experiment of the transient neutron behavior following a source burst has been performed. The time-dependent Boltzmann equation (in the diffusion approximation without delayed neutrons) was propagated in time until asymptotic conditions were reached. The explicit time, space and energy solution was programed for the IBM-7094. Space-independent calculations of defined effective multiplication factors, neutron lifetimes and decay constants were performed for hydrogenous and graphite-moderated U235 or Pu239 systems. Seventy-three velocity groups were employed to detail spectral changes that occur in the approach to equilibrium. About 20 µsec and 150 µsec, respectively, were required for the energy modes to decay in the hydrogenous and graphite systems considered. The initial response of a cadmium detector is shown to be similar in multiplying and nonmultiplying assemblies and indicates the neutron slowing-down time to the cadmium resonance. No further structure in the cadmium-detector response due to the regenerative process was noted. The space-dependent properties of bare and reflected one-dimensional slabs were also briefly studied.