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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. Segev, A. Misulovin, A. Galperin
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 127 | Number 2 | October 1997 | Pages 238-244
Technical Note | doi.org/10.13182/NSE97-A28600
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A fuel management scheme is proposed for a twofold purpose: incineration of light water reactor waste plutonium and electricity generation. The scheme is based on a fast spectrum core with lead as a coolant. The core is managed in a three-batch mode, 200 days per cycle. Enriched 10B, in B4C pellets, is used as burnable poison, reducing the criticality drop to just 2.8%/cycle. The latter can be handled easily with a few control rods. The core is flat, with a 400-cm diameter and 90-cm height, to ensure that core voiding results in a criticality decrease. Recycled fuel is recharged into the core after the fission products, but not actinides, have been removed. Equilibrium operation is reached within a short period of 2 yr. In a span of 27 yr, the core will incinerate the plutonium at an average rate of 730 kg/yr, while generating 1000 MW(electric).