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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.
G. A. Jarvis, G. A. Linenberger, J. D. Orndoff, H. C. Paxton
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 8 | Number 6 | December 1960 | Pages 525-531
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE60-A25840
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Two plutonium-metal critical assemblies have been studied at the Pajarito site in Los Alamos. Part I of this article describes Jezebel, the bare plutonium assembly, and gives its observed characteristics along with a few comparisons with enriched-uranium systems. Part II covers Popsy, a plutonium core in a thick normal-uranium reflector. As Popsy was relatively inflexible—intended only for a preliminary survey—its experimental program was much less complete than that of Jezebel.