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Conference Spotlight
Nuclear Energy Conference & Expo (NECX)
September 8–11, 2025
Atlanta, GA|Atlanta Marriott Marquis
Standards Program
The Standards Committee is responsible for the development and maintenance of voluntary consensus standards that address the design, analysis, and operation of components, systems, and facilities related to the application of nuclear science and technology. Find out What’s New, check out the Standards Store, or Get Involved today!
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Latest News
DOE fast tracks test reactor projects: What to know
The Department of Energy today unveiled 10 companies racing to bring test reactors online by next year to meet Trump's deadline of next Independance Day, leveraging a new DOE pathway that allows reactor authorization outside national labs. As first outlined in one of the four executive orders on nuclear energy released by President Trump on May 23 and in the request for applications for the Reactor Pilot Program released June 18, the companies must use their own money and sites—and DOE authorization—to get reactors operating. What they won’t need is a Nuclear Regulatory Commission license.
Eugene A. Eschbach
Nuclear Technology | Volume 41 | Number 2 | December 1978 | Pages 168-179
Technical Paper | Extraction of Energy From Nuclear Fuels Without Reprocessing to Separate Plutonium / Fuel Cycle | doi.org/10.13182/NT78-A32102
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A review of the plutonium fuel recycle program (1955–1967) did not reveal an economically compelling alternative fuel cycle to slightly enriched uranium, plutonium recycle, or the plutonium breeder. The review included systems involving no chemical separations compared with slightly enriched uranium once through. Nor did freestanding thorium systems appear economic, although synergisms between uranium and thorium may be worth considering, including reduced-density thorium fuels with high fuel durability as an alternative to uranium load following and peaking fuel. The crossed progeny system involving 233U enrichment of uranium in light water reactors (LWRs) and conversion of the plutonium to 233U in fast reactors may offer a method of providing a high-performance denatured LWR fuel for the period beyond the availability of economic slightly enriched uranium.
