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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.
John Pevey, Ondřej Chvála, Sarah Davis, Vladimir Sobes, J. Wes Hines
Nuclear Technology | Volume 206 | Number 4 | April 2020 | Pages 609-619
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.1080/00295450.2019.1664198
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
This paper discusses the design of a fast spectrum subcritical assembly utilizing a genetic algorithm. The facility proposed in this paper would be a flexible platform for expanding the knowledge of fast spectrum neutron cross sections needed for next-generation fast reactor designs. The Fast Neutron Source (FNS) would be composed of both a fast and a thermal region to minimize the amount of uranium fuel and reduce overall material costs while maintaining flexibility for many potential fast neutron cross-section experiments. The FNS would be customizable and interchangeable down to 1 × 1 × 10-in.-volume sections. An optimal core design requires the adjustment of many factors to both reduce the cost and accurately reproduce the spectra of interest during an experiment. A genetic algorithm was developed to optimize this complex design problem while reducing design time and expert judgment. The genetic algorithm was able to vary multiple design factors in an unattended fashion from a random initial population of designs and arrived at a design comparable to an expertly designed assembly.