ANS is committed to advancing, fostering, and promoting the development and application of nuclear sciences and technologies to benefit society.
Explore the many uses for nuclear science and its impact on energy, the environment, healthcare, food, and more.
Explore membership for yourself or for your organization.
Conference Spotlight
2026 Nuclear Energy Conference & Expo (NECX)
August 24–27, 2026
Dallas, TX|Hilton Anatole
Latest Magazine Issues
Jul 2026
Jan 2026
2026
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
August 2026
Nuclear Technology
July 2026
Fusion Science and Technology
Latest News
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.
R. C. Howard
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 10 | Number 2 | June 1961 | Pages 173-182
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE61-A25956
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Thermionic cell development is progressing at such a rapid rate that some of the data required for incorporation of thermionic converters into reactor systems is already becoming available. Although such information is not yet sufficient for detailed design and performance evaluation of nuclear-thermionic systems, it is adequate for preliminary analysis. As more experimental information is obtained, these preliminary analyses will have to be reviewed and the concepts reevaluated. However, they have already shown the interesting potential of—and the severe problems to be overcome in—applying nuclear-thermionic systems in space, marine, and central-station power plants. In this article, the possible concepts for utilizing thermionic cells with nuclear reactors are reviewed and the feasibility of their applications is discussed.