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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.
W. D. Kelley, B. L. Twitty
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 13 | Number 4 | August 1962 | Pages 374-377
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE62-A26179
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
An improved neutron activation procedure for determining the U235 content in impure uranium samples is presented. With 95% confidence, a relative precision of ±1% is obtained at the level of 0.7 wt % U235. An ethyl acetate extraction is used to purify the uranium chemically. Most of the uranium decay products are removed by extraction with 2-thenoyltrifluoroacetone (TTA) in xylene. The purified uranium, which is subsequently activated as U3O8, has a consistent gamma background level. Utilization of a i.d. well scintillation crystal has permitted the use of large diameter aluminum planchettes holding 2 gm aliquots of U3O8. This system has minimized the problem of varying irradiation geometries caused by differences in U3O8 bulk density. Data from a sample recycle program are presented to illustrate the relative precision of ±1%. Comparisons between neutron activation and mass spectrometric results agree within ±1%.