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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.
F. Maekawa, Y. Oyama, C. Konno, M. Wada, Y. Ikeda
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 126 | Number 2 | June 1997 | Pages 187-200
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE97-A24472
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Benchmark experiments for the validation of secondary-gamma-ray data are conducted for iron and Type 316 stainless steel (SS316) shield assemblies bombarded by deuterium-tritium neutrons. Gamma-ray spectra and heating rates for both threshold and capture gamma rays are measured. With the present experimental data for gamma rays, a set of benchmark data for iron and SS316, including neutron energy spectra in entire energies and various dosimetry reaction rates, is completed for the first time. Secondary-gamma-ray data in JENDL-3.1, JENDL-3.2, JENDL-Fusion File, and FENDL/ E-1.0 are tested by benchmark calculation of the experiments. As a result, larger gamma-ray-production cross sections for threshold reactions in JENDL-3.1 and JENDL-3.2 and an inconsistent energy balance of the (n, γ) reactions in JENDL-3.1 are found. From the viewpoint of fusion engineering, the first priority in evaluating secondary-gamma-ray data should be conserving the energy balance. A rigid energy balance in both the JENDL Fusion File and FENDL/E-1.0 is confirmed for both threshold and capture gamma rays. The JENDL Fusion File and FENDL/E-1.0 provide the highly accurate secondary-gamma-ray data for iron and SS316 needed for fusion reactor nuclear design.