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The deadline arrives: Checking in on the Reactor Pilot Program
On May 23, 2025, President Trump signed Executive Order 14301, “Reforming Nuclear Reactor Testing at the DOE,” which instructed the Department of Energy to create a Reactor Pilot Program (RPP)—a new system in which companies could pursue DOE authorization to build and test their first-of-a-kind nuclear technologies. EO 14301 set an ambitious goal for that program: three reactors achieving criticality by July 4, 2026.
J. T. Gill, R. E. Ellefson, R. P. Paulick, C. M. Colvin, R. L. Yauger, E. E. Johns, R. L. Anderson, E. L. Lewis, P. H. Lamberger, R. E. Vallee
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 14 | Number 2 | September 1988 | Pages 876-883
Tritium Properties and Interactions with Material | Proceedings of the Third Topical Meeting on Tritium Technology in Fission, Fusion and Isotopic Applications (Toronto, Ontario, Canada, May 1-6, 1988) | doi.org/10.13182/FST88-A25245
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A recent tritium inventory imbalance at Mound required an investigation into its causes. Much tritium was found as HTO in unsuspected zeolite traps of a T-purification system. Isotopic exchange from ammonia was postulated as a mechanism for entry of T into the zeolitic water. Gases from a T-processing system which had experienced air in-leakage were shown, by trapping of condensibles, to contain substantial H-isotopic waters and ammonias. Further evidence for tritiated ammonia was inferred from changes in pressure and T purity in otherwise unperturbed tanks of N2 and (H/D/T)2. From two such tanks which held N2 and T2 at equilibrium, ammonia was trapped and decomposed; a preliminary equilibrium constant for N2 + 3T2 ⇔ 2NT3 was determined. Controlled experiments by laser Raman spectrometry are in progress to investigate N2/T2 equilibria and kinetics. Results for gas mixtures in the 60–130 kPa (500–1000 torr) range (per reactant) suggest that the forward rate and the equlibrium attained are α [T2]2 . G-values for NT3 production were ≈1–2 molecules atm-1 (T2) (100eV)-1. Self-decomposition of NT3 proceded in an exponential decay with a G = 15–30. A lower value was observed at pressures where β--absorption in the gas was poor.