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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.
Robert J. Borland
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 121 | Number 1 | September 1995 | Pages 162-171
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE95-A24138
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
For most pressurized water reactors, moderator temperature coefficients (MTCs) must be measured at end-of-cycle conditions at power to verify that Technical Specification limits on negative MTC will not be violated. Three techniques for performing these measurements are evaluated, and the relative strengths and weaknesses of each method are discussed. Considering overall accuracy and time required to perform the test, a best method is selected, and its accuracy is compared with previous measurements performed at Davis-Besse Unit 1, thus demonstrating the effectiveness of this technique. In addition, the necessity of attempting to perform this measurement at power at end-of-life conditions is discussed.