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2026 Nuclear Energy Conference & Expo (NECX)
August 24–27, 2026
Dallas, TX|Hilton Anatole
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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.
J. H. Kittel, S. Greenberg, S. H. Paine, J. E. Draley
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 2 | Number 4 | July 1957 | Pages 431-449
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE57-A25408
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Three corrosion-resistant uranium-base alloys, U-3 weight per cent Nb, U-5 weight per cent Zr-1½ weight per cent Nb, and U-3.8 weight per cent Si (U3Si) were irradiated to burnups of 0.1 atomic per cent or less. Observations were made of irradiation-induced length changes in specimens of the alloys as influenced by the method of fabrication and heat treatment, and of changes in aqueous corrosion resistance resulting from irradiation. It was found that the uranium-niobium alloy was unsuitable from the standpoint of dimensional and surface stability, and its corrosion resistance was destroyed by irradiation. The uranium-zirconium-niobium alloy could be nominally stabilized under irradiation and its corrosion resistance was destroyed by between 0.046 and 0.074 atomic per cent burnup. The uranium-silicon alloy was relatively stable under irradiation and showed no increase in corrosion rate at 290°C after 0.090 atomic per cent burnup, although cracking occurred after several days corrosion testing.