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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.
O. C. Dean, G. K. Ellis
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 4 | Number 4 | October 1958 | Pages 509-521
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE58-A28827
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A process, developed at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, produced thorium metal by the continuous reduction of anhydrous thorium tetrachloride with sodium amalgam on a scale up to 3.5 pounds per hour. The salt was vigorously agitated with an excess of sodium amalgam which was produced by the electrolysis of aqueous sodium hydroxide. The resulting slurry of thorium mercuride in mercury was washed free from impurities and reaction by-products with dilute HC1 and water. A solid concentrate of the thorium mercuride was prepared by filter-pressing the dilute slurry. The remaining mercury was removed by vacuum-distillation, resulting in massive metal of about 0.8 of the theoretical thorium density. The metal was fabricated into rods by direct extrusion or by arc-melting followed by extrusion.