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Second round of Launch Pad selections includes eight newcomers
The National Reactor Innovation Center at Idaho National Laboratory has announced 13 project selections across 12 companies for the Nuclear Energy Launch Pad, a Department of Energy–led program that integrates reactor and fuel facility authorization, testing, and deployment support for private nuclear developers.
The Launch Pad emerged from the Reactor Pilot Program and Fuel Line Pilot Program.
According to INL, projects selected include reactor development and nuclear fuel cycle advancements, including fabrication, enrichment, and conversion technologies.
Matthew Talbot, Dan McCorquodale, Ian Broglie
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 197 | Number 1 | June 2023 | Pages S13-S23
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.1080/00295639.2022.2120315
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The use of advanced security technologies, such as modeling and simulation in support of vulnerability assessment, has continued to find acceptance in both the operator and the regulatory realms. A critical component to gaining acceptance for modeling and simulation is employing a proven analysis process using best practices and proven tools. These processes and tools allow security managers to be responsive to changing threats and management/financial constraints by quantifying a site’s level of security under different attack scenarios and defensive configurations. Based on best practices and performance data from government agencies, modeling and simulation experts have proposed a process to compute security system effectiveness for commercial nuclear sites. This process will allow decision makers to use a risk-informed approach to quantify security risk at their sites. This also includes a formal accreditation and review process that will provide decision makers and regulators confidence into the development of the defense strategy. Providing a consistent means to assess security, using government-provided or other agreed-upon performance data, will allow sites to compare new and more cost-effective strategies directly with existing/approved strategies to perform a cost-benefit analysis and return on investment estimate.