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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.
Geoffrey R. Bull, Jason O. Oakley, Michael L. Corradini
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 180 | Number 3 | July 2015 | Pages 301-311
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE14-79
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The fissioning of uranium in an aqueous solution creates 99Mo, the precursor to 99mTc, but also generates large amounts of hydrogen and oxygen from the radiolysis of the water. When the dissolved gases reach a critical concentration, bubbles will form in the solution, affecting both the fission power and the heat transfer out of the solution. A high aspect ratio tank was constructed to measure heat transfer from a liquid pool with internal gas and heat generation. Different air injection manifolds allowed the exploration of various bubble characteristics and bubble patterns on heat transfer from the pool to the cold walls. Experimental data analysis provided heat transfer coefficient values as a function of axial position, power density, and the superficial gas velocity in the pool. Results, including a recommended correlation for average heat transfer coefficients, are provided for superficial gas velocities between 0 and 0.3 cm/s and power densities between 115 and 400 W/ℓ in water.