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2026 Nuclear Energy Conference & Expo (NECX)
August 24–27, 2026
Dallas, TX|Hilton Anatole
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Launching into tomorrow: NRIC guides new era of research and deployment
In June 2025, the Department of Energy announced the Reactor Pilot Program, an authorization pathway that allowed reactor developers to partner with the DOE to get first-of-a-kind (FOAK) reactors built and tested. Soon after, the DOE rolled out a complementary Fuel Line Pilot Program, which aimed to fast-track fuel projects. In all, 20 projects were accepted into the new programs.
G. B. Hiremath, N. R. Banapurmath, Ashok M. Sajjan, N. H. Ayachit, N. M. Badiger
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 200 | Number 8 | August 2026 | Pages 1924-1933
Research Article | doi.org/10.1080/00295639.2025.2546745
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The shielding parameters for gamma rays, charged particles, and neutrons were assessed for epoxy composites doped with boron carbide nanoparticles using EPIXs, NGCal, ESTAR, PSTAR, and ASTAR software. Boron carbide nanoparticles with concentrations ranging from 0.1% to 0.4% were synthesized and then characterized using Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The FTIR results show that there is no notable shift or omission of spectral bands with the incorporation of boron carbide nanoparticles in epoxy composites. The SEM results indicate good dispersion and uniform distribution of nanoparticles in epoxies. The concentration of boron carbide nanoparticles was increased to 30% to evaluate their effectiveness as a shielding material against nuclear radiation. The evaluated results show that there are no significant changes in gamma-ray mass attenuation coefficient values for the composites in the selected energy region. On the other hand, the effective atomic number values vary substantially from 10% to 30%, with an increase in boron carbide concentrations of up to 30%. The exposure buildup factor and energy absorption buildup factor values exhibited sharper peaks at 40 mean free paths (mfp) compared to 1 mfp in the lower-energy regions. Furthermore, the mass attenuation factor for thermal neutrons is found to be of higher values than those for concrete, water, and commercial glass, indicating that the present composite is a promising nuclear radiation-shielding material. The total stopping power for protons and alpha particles for these composites showed peaks at 0.08 and 0.6 MeV, respectively. The current results demonstrate that the selected epoxy composites doped with boron carbide nanoparticles are an effective nuclear radiation-shielding material.