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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.
Claudio Ronchi, Jacques van de Laar, Hubert Blank
Nuclear Technology | Volume 68 | Number 1 | January 1985 | Pages 48-65
Technical Paper | Nuclear Fuel | doi.org/10.13182/NT85-A33566
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A set of calculations has been carried out with the EUGES-ARIES code system to study the swelling performance limits of a sodium-bonded mixed-carbide pin design, which was recently proposed for the introduction of advanced fuels into liquid-metal fast breeder reactors. The results indicate that a useful peak burnup of 150000 MWd/ton can be attained with pin diametral plastic deformations up to 2%, under optimal irradiation conditions. However, probable thermal disturbances in the fuel and cladding mechanical deterioration due to steel carburization still represent a risk source for pin failure. A further improvement of the swelling performance of mixed carbides is therefore needed to refine the examined pin design for future full-scale reactor applications.