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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.
Takaaki Sakai, Yasuhiro Enuma, Takashi Iwasaki
Nuclear Technology | Volume 145 | Number 3 | March 2004 | Pages 287-297
Technical Paper | Thermal Hydraulics | doi.org/10.13182/NT04-A3478
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Decay heat removal analyses for lead-bismuth-cooled natural-circulation reactors are described in this paper. A combined multidimensional plant dynamics code (MSG-COPD) has been developed to conduct the system analysis for the natural-circulation reactors. For the preliminary study, transient analysis has been performed for a 300-MW(thermal) lead-bismuth-cooled reactor designed by Argonne National Laboratory. In addition, decay heat removal characteristics of a 400-MW(electric) lead-bismuth-cooled natural-circulation reactor designed by the Japan Nuclear Cycle Development Institute (JNC) has been evaluated by using MSG-COPD. The primary reactor auxiliary cooling system (PRACS) is prepared for the JNC concept to get sufficient heat removal capacity. During 2000 s after the transient, the outlet temperature shows increasing tendency up to the maximum temperature of 430°C because the buoyancy force in a primary circulation path is temporarily reduced. However, the natural circulation is recovered by the PRACS system, and the outlet temperature decreases successfully.