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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.
Donald E. Burton, Charles M. Snell, Jon B. Bryan
Nuclear Technology | Volume 26 | Number 1 | May 1975 | Pages 65-87
Technical Paper | Nuclear Explosive | doi.org/10.13182/NT75-A24405
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Two-dimensional computer calculations were performed to model nuclear and high-explosive cratering detonations in saturated Bearpaw clay shale. Three calculations simulated 20-ton energy-yield nitromethane cratering experiments at burial depths of 6, 12.5, and 17 m. Results agreed with experimentally measured peak stresses, peak particle velocities, and crater dimensions. Calculations for a hypothetical nuclear source of the same energy at 12.5 m showed that only half as much kinetic energy was coupled into the mound; a correspondingly smaller crater was predicted. A 10-ton nitromethane source at 12.5 m was also calculated and was found to closely match the nuclear calculation. For these calculations, mound kinetic energy provided a valid criterion for achieving cratering similitude between high-explosive and nuclear events. In this case, similitude was obtained with a nitromethane source having about half the energy of the nuclear source.