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Aalo Atomics achieves criticality on July 4
Executive Order 14301 set an ambitious goal for at least three test reactors to achieve criticality by July 4. Two private companies participating in the Department of Energy’s Reactor Pilot Program—Antares and Valar Atomics—reached this stage earlier in June, and Deployable Energy—participating in the DOE's Nuclear Energy Launch Pad—became the third last week.
In the last few weeks, reports indicated that Aalo would be next, reaching criticality at Idaho National Laboratory with a low-enriched uranium–fueled, sodium-cooled reactor on or near the target date set forth by President Trump’s EO 14301. In the early hours of July 4, Aalo’s critical test reactor—a full-scale zero-power version of its planned 10-MWe Aalo-X—did just that, becoming the fourth DOE-authorized reactor to hit the milestone.
S. R. Bierman
Nuclear Technology | Volume 26 | Number 3 | July 1975 | Pages 352-381
Technical Note | Chemical Processing | doi.org/10.13182/NT75-A24435
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Fourteen different critical systems of plutonium-uranium homogeneous mixtures are arranged in a format amenable for use in validating calculational techniques and checking nuclear data. Each experimental system is completely defined under a single benchmark number. For the data that permit it, multiple critical dimensions are given for each fuel composition and geometry. Wherever possible, experimentally determined correction factors are provided for reducing the complexity of the critical assemblies.