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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.
Liang Shi, J. Michael Doster, Charles W. Mayo
Nuclear Technology | Volume 127 | Number 1 | July 1999 | Pages 24-37
Technical Paper | Thermal Hydraulics | doi.org/10.13182/NT99-A2981
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
To estimate the range of impact velocities of potential reactor loose parts (LPs) requires information on regional flow velocities, LP mass, and LP drag coefficients. Flow velocities and the mass of potential LPs can generally be bounded and therefore are assumed to be known. In this work, drag coefficients for prototype LP shapes, including objects such as bolts, nuts, pins, and hand tools, were measured in the fluid velocity range typical of reactor coolant systems. Unlike drag coefficients measured for stationary objects, or by moving a body through a stagnant fluid, these experiments are performed on objects moving freely in a turbulent flow stream. In general, the measured drag coefficients for all tested LP shapes are shown to be close to the standard drag coefficient for a sphere, especially in the low-Reynolds-number region. However, significant differences exist in the wake transition region, which indicates that the drag coefficient for a freely moving body in turbulent flow is different from the drag coefficient for a confined body under the same flow conditions or for a body moving in a stagnant fluid.