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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.
A. M. Perry, H. F. Bauman
Nuclear Technology | Volume 8 | Number 2 | February 1970 | Pages 208-219
Reactor | doi.org/10.13182/NT70-A28626
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
As presently conceived at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and described in this issue, the single-fluid Molten-Salt Breeder Reactor, operating on the 232Th-233 U fuel cycle and based on a reference design, has a breeding ratio of ∼1.06, specific fissile inventory of 1.5 kg/MW(e), a fuel doubling time of ∼20 years, and fuel cycle costs of ∼0.7 mill/kWh(e). Start-up may be accomplished with either enriched uranium or plutonium, with little effect on fuel cost; the breeding ratio, averaged over reactor life, is reduced 0.01 to 0.02 relative to the equilibrium cycle. Operated as a converter, with limited chemical processing, the reactor may have a conversion ratio in the range 0.8 to 0.9 with fuel cycle costs of 0.7 to 0.9 mill/kWh(e).