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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.
Y. Kukita, H. Nakamura, K. Tasaka, C. Chauliac
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 99 | Number 4 | August 1988 | Pages 289-298
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE99-289
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Natural circulation experiments were conducted in a large-scale (1/48 scale in volume) full-height simulator of a Westinghouse-type pressurized water reactor. This facility has two steam generators each containing 141 full-size U-tubes of 9 different heights. Transition of the natural circulation mode was observed in the experiments as the primary side mass inventory was decreased. Three major circulation modes were observed: single-phase liquid natural circulation, two-phase natural circulation, and reflux condensation. For all these circulation modes, and during the transitions between the modes, the mass flow distribution among the steam generator U-tubes was significantly nonuniform. The longer U-tubes indicated reversed flow at higher primary side mass inventories and also tended to empty earlier than the shorter U-tubes when the primary side mass inventory was decreased.