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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.
Lawrence Ruby
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 107 | Number 4 | April 1991 | Pages 394-396
Technical Note | doi.org/10.13182/NSE91-A23801
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The classic example used to illustrate the solution to the point kinetics equations with one equivalent delayed-neutron group is argued to be inappropriate for real reactors. However, a solution to the equations, altered by the addition of a neutron source, is shown to have qualitative resemblance to a real reactor and to predict that all steady states are subcritical. Reactivity oscillations are cited as another reason for subcritical steady states.