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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.
James W. Meadows
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 79 | Number 2 | October 1981 | Pages 233-237
Technical Note | doi.org/10.13182/NSE81-A27412
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The 240Pu-to-235U fission cross-section ratio has been measured at 55 discrete energies between thresh-old and ∼10 MeV using the 7Li(p,n)7Be and D(d,n)3He reactions as neutron sources. The sample masses were measured by (a) calculated specific activities and low geometry alpha counting, (b) by mass spectrographic isotopic dilution analyses, and (c) by comparing the relative thermal fission rates of one of the 235U samples with 240Pu samples containing ∼9% 239Pu.