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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.
L. Eric Smith, Naeem M. Abdurrahman
Nuclear Technology | Volume 140 | Number 3 | December 2002 | Pages 328-349
Technical Paper | Radiation Measurements and Instrumentation | doi.org/10.13182/NT02-A3343
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A Monte Carlo study of the neutron slowing-down spectrometry technique for measuring fissile isotopic content in irradiated fuel has been completed. The neutron spectrometer system is characterized in terms of design, slowing-down time relation, isotopic response functions, and assay signals. The nonlinear effect of interrogating neutron self-shielding for a high fissile content fuel is compared to the same parameter for a low fissile content fuel. Simulated assays of 23 different fuel assemblies with a broad range of total fissile mass content (1.3 to 83 wt%) and fissile isotopic ratios are performed and analyzed using two different methods: a linear system model using a least-squares regression analysis and a radial basis neural network. Mean errors using the linear system model for the 23 different fuel types were approximately 20% for 235U and 43% for total plutonium. The radial basis neural network assay signal solutions showed promising results, considerably better than the linear model: 4.9% for 235U, 5.4% for total plutonium, and 0.5% for total fissile content.