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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.
Dobromir Panayotov
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 148 | Number 2 | October 2004 | Pages 247-255
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE04-A2455
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Westinghouse transient code POLCA-T brings together the system thermal-hydraulics plant models and three-dimensional (3-D) neutron kinetics core models. Participation in the OECD/NRC BWR Turbine Trip (TT) Benchmark is a part of our efforts toward the code's validation. The paper describes the objectives for TT analyses and gives a brief overview of the developed plant system input deck and 3-D core model.The results of exercise 1, system model without netronics, are presented. Sensitivity studies performed cover the maximal time step, turbine stop valve position and mass flow, feedwater temperature, and steam bypass mass flow. Results of exercise 2, 3-D core neutronic and thermal-hydraulic model with boundary conditions, are also presented. Sensitivity studies include the core inlet temperature, cladding properties, and direct heating to core coolant and bypass.The entire plant model was validated in the framework of the benchmark's phase 3. Sensitivity studies include the effect of SCRAM initialization and carry-under. The results obtained - transient fission power and its initial axial distribution and steam dome, core exit, lower and upper plenum, main steam line, and turbine inlet pressures - showed good agreement with measured data. Thus, the POLCA-T code capabilities for correct simulation of pressurizing transients with very fast power were proved.