  Segmented antineutrino detectors placed near a compact research reactor
provide an excellent opportunity to probe short-baseline neutrino oscillations
and precisely measure the reactor antineutrino spectrum. Close proximity to a
reactor combined with minimal overburden yield a high background environment
that must be managed through shielding and detector technology. PROSPECT is a
new experimental effort to detect reactor antineutrinos from the High Flux
Isotope Reactor (HFIR) at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, managed by UT Battelle
for the U.S. Department of Energy. The detector will use novel lithium-loaded
liquid scintillator capable of neutron/gamma pulse shape discrimination and
neutron capture tagging. These enhancements improve the ability to identify
neutrino inverse-beta decays and reject background events in analysis. Results
from these efforts will be covered along with their implications for an
oscillation search and a precision spectrum measurement.
