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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.
Rodolfo Vaghetto, Luigi Capone, Yassin A. Hassan
Nuclear Technology | Volume 177 | Number 2 | February 2012 | Pages 217-230
Technical Paper | Thermal Hydraulics | doi.org/10.13182/NT12-A13367
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
An experimental activity was performed to observe and study the effects of graphite dispersion and deposition on thermal-hydraulic phenomena in a reactor cavity cooling system (RCCS). The small-scale RCCS experimental facility (16.5 × 16.5 × 30.4 cm) used for this activity represents half of the reactor cavity with an electrically heated vessel. Water flowing through five vertical pipes removes the heat produced in the vessel and releases it into the environment by mixing with cold water in a large tank. The particle image velocimetry technique was used to study the velocity field of the air inside the cavity. A set of 52 thermocouples was installed in the facility to monitor the temperature profiles of the vessel, pipe walls, and air. Ten grams of a fine graphite powder (average particle size 2 m) was injected into the cavity through a spraying nozzle placed at the bottom of the vessel. The temperatures and air velocity field were recorded and compared with the measurements obtained before the graphite dispersion, showing a decrease of the temperature surfaces that was related to an increase in their emissivity. The results contribute to the understanding of RCCS capability in an accident scenario.