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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.
Chris F. Haught, W. C. Jordan, B. Basoglu, R. W. Brewer, A. D. Wilkinson, H. L. Dodds
Nuclear Technology | Volume 111 | Number 2 | August 1995 | Pages 197-218
Technical Paper | Nuclear Criticality Safety Special / Nuclear Criticality Safety | doi.org/10.13182/NT95-A35130
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A theoretical model is used to predict the consequences of a postulated hypothetical nuclear criticality excursion in a freezer/sublimer (F/S). Previous work has shown that an intrusion of water into a F/S may result in a critical configuration. A first attempt is made to model the neutronic and thermal-hydraulic phenomena occurring during a criticality excursion involving both uranium hexafluoride (UF6) and uranyl fluoride (UO2F2) solution, which is present in the F/S during upset conditions. The model employs point neutronics coupled with simple thermal hydraulics. Reactivity feedback from changes in the properties of the system are included in the model. The excursion is studied in a 10-MW F/S with an initial load of 3500 kg of 5% weight enriched UF6 and in a 20-MW F/S with an initial load of 6800 kg of 2% weight enriched UF6. The magnitude of the fission release determined in this work is 5.93 × 1018 fissions in the 10-MW F/S and 4.21 × 1018 fissions in the 20-MW F/S. In order to demonstrate the reliability of the techniques used in this work, a limited validation study was conducted by comparing the fission release and peak fission rate determined by this work with experimental results for a limited number of experiments. The agreement between calculations and experiments in the validation study is considered to be satisfactory. The calculational results for the hypothetical accidents in the two F/S vessels appear reasonable.