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2026 Nuclear Energy Conference & Expo (NECX)
August 24–27, 2026
Dallas, TX|Hilton Anatole
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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.
K. Brandenburg, G. Hamad, Z. Meisel, C. R. Brune, D. E. Carter, J. Derkin, D. C. Ingram, Y. Jones-Alberty, B. Kenady, T. N. Massey, M. Saxena, D. Soltesz, S. K. Subedi, J. Warren
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 197 | Number 4 | April 2023 | Pages 510-516
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.1080/00295639.2022.2118483
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
We present results from direct measurements of the thick-target yield from laboratory incident energies 3 to 5 MeV, performed with the 3HeBF3 Giant Barrel (HeBGB) neutron detector at the Edwards Accelerator Laboratory. Our measurements have a small energy cadence in order to address discrepancies and sparseness of thick-target-yield data sets existing for this energy region. We find general agreement with existing data sets, including yields derived from cross-section data, while resolving a discrepancy between existing thick-target-yield data sets for MeV. However, for MeV, our results are substantially lower than previous thick-target-yield data and somewhat larger than yields calculated from existing cross-section data. Our data complete the energy range needed for estimates of the contribution to neutrino and dark matter detector backgrounds and result in increased viability of as a plasma diagnostic tool at fusion facilities such as the National Ignition Facility.