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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. P. Mills, Jr.
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 110 | Number 2 | February 1992 | Pages 165-167
Technical Papers | doi.org/10.13182/NSE92-A23885
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
It is argued that 79Kr is uniquely suited for an intense positron source. It can be produced by neutron activation of a rare, but available, stable isotope 78Kr; it has a convenient 35-h half-life; as a nonreactive gas, it can be transported and recycled in a closed system using automated valves without exposure of personnel; and it can be vapor deposited easily on a large area cold surface using a solid neon moderator to make a slow positron source with intensity (∼1011 s−1) limited only by the availability of neutrons and cryogenic refrigeration.