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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.
Ely M. Gelbard, Richard Lell
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 63 | Number 1 | May 1977 | Pages 9-23
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE77-A26999
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A Monte Carlo method has been developed for the computation of the eigenvalue, as a function of buckling, in an infinite lattice. This method has been used to test the accuracy of earlier, approximate, void-worth computations, computations that enter into the analysis of hypothetical accidents in which voids collapse. Test results indicate that reactivity effects due to the collapse of bubbles in a molten pool can be computed, with reasonable accuracy, by the Behrens method, used earlier by Goldsmith. On the other hand, the Webb estimates of eigenvalue changes, caused by the expansion of fuel pins into the voids of a previously voided lattice, appear to be somewhat too high.