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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.
Meir Segev, A. Galperin
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 125 | Number 1 | January 1997 | Pages 84-92
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE97-A24256
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Interest in generating energy with thorium fuel has increased lately as a result of the activation of subcritical ThO2 lattices by accelerated protons. A tight, ThO2 water-cooled lattice has been proposed to generate 200 MW(thermal) with 1.5-GeV protons in a current of ∼ 7mA. A tight-latticed core, consisting of a ThO2/233UO2 seed embedded in a large ThO2 blanket, has been proposed to generate 2400 MW(thermal) with 1.0-GeV protons in a current of 20 mA. A consistent detailed analysis of these two energy amplifiers, carried out with the HERMES, MCNP, KORIGEN, WIMS, and BOXER codes, results in performances inferior to those claimed. The net power generated will be one-fourth of that claimed for the former and 1/2.5 of that claimed for the latter.