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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.
Jin Ho Song, Jong Hwan Kim
Nuclear Technology | Volume 149 | Number 3 | March 2005 | Pages 309-323
Technical Paper | Thermal Hydraulics | doi.org/10.13182/NT05-A3598
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A series of experiments on fuel/coolant interaction (FCI) was performed in the TROI facility, where the composition of the mixture was varied. The compositions of the UO2 and ZrO2 mixture in weight percent were 50:50, 70:30, 80:20, and pure ZrO2. The responses of the system including the temperature of the pool of water in the test vessel, pressure and temperature of the containment vessel, and dynamic pressures and force were measured. In addition, high-speed movies were taken through the windows. The tests using corium with a 70:30 composition and pure zirconia resulted in a spontaneous energetic steam explosion, while the tests with other compositions did not lead to an energetic FCI. The debris size distribution and pressure and temperature responses clearly indicated the cases with an energetic explosion and the cases without an explosion. The high-speed movie taken during the FCI through the visible window clearly disclosed the outstanding phases of the FCI, which were the melt entry phase, the triggering phase, and the continued melt jet and expansion of the mixing zone phase.