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2026 Nuclear Energy Conference & Expo (NECX)
August 24–27, 2026
Dallas, TX|Hilton Anatole
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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.
V. C. Badham, W. E. Kastenberg, G. C. Pomraning, D. Okrent
Nuclear Technology | Volume 47 | Number 2 | February 1980 | Pages 221-233
Technical Paper | Reactor | doi.org/10.13182/NT80-A32428
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Whenever a fissionable blanket is added to a controlled thermonuclear reactor, an investigation of the potential for accidental criticality is necessary to ensure the safety of this hybrid device. The neutronic effects of blanket meltdown and the ingress of steam into the blanket, studied for one such fusion-fission hybrid reactor, indicate that accidental criticality will be achieved only for very long blanket residence times or highly improbable accident sequences. Even though only one hybrid device was investigated, the results indicate that it is possible to design a reactor that will remain subcritical even under certain incredible circumstances.