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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.
M. Ishii, W. L. Chen, M. A. Grolmes
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 60 | Number 4 | August 1976 | Pages 435-451
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE76-3
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The motion and location of the molten clad during an unprotected loss-of-flow accident in liquid-metal fast breeder reactors are very important because of their effect on the reactivity and the subsequent fuel motion. The present study analyzes the clad relocation problem based on a single-channel film flow model and a simple thermal transient model for fuel pins. The motion of molten clad induced by sodium vapor streaming undergoes initial rapid upward acceleration, slowing down, flow reversal, and eventual slumping down into liquid sodium at the lower end of the heated section. A possibility for freezing of the molten clad at the unheated upper plenum region as well as bottom freezing and blockage formation were also included in the analysis. A sample calculation has been made for the case of R-series 7-pin tests in the Transient Reactor Test Facility. The agreement of the overall physical behavior of the clad motion with the post-test observations is quite satisfactory.