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.
K. O. Ott
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 113 | Number 2 | February 1993 | Pages 122-135
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE93-A24002
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A simplified model for a liquid-metal-cooled reactor (LMR) transient analysis, in which point kinetics as well as lumped descriptions of the heat transfer equations in all components are applied, is converted from a differential into an integral formulation. All 30 differential balance equations are implicitly solved in terms of convolution integrals. The prompt jump approximation is applied as the strong negative feedback effectively keeps the net reactivity well below prompt critical. After implicit finite differencing of the convolution integrals, the kinetics equation assumes a new form, i.e., the “quadratic dynamics equation.” In this integral formulation, the initial value problem of typical LMR transients can be solved with large time steps (initially I s, later up to 256 s). This then makes transient problems amenable to a treatment on a personal computer. The resulting mathematical model forms the basis for the GW-BASIC program LMR transient calculation (LTC) program. The LTC program has also been converted to QuickBASIC. The running time for a 10-h transient overpower transient is then ≈40 to 10 s, depending on the hardware version (286, 386, or 486 with math coprocessors).