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Conference Spotlight
Nuclear Energy Conference & Expo (NECX)
September 8–11, 2025
Atlanta, GA|Atlanta Marriott Marquis
Standards Program
The Standards Committee is responsible for the development and maintenance of voluntary consensus standards that address the design, analysis, and operation of components, systems, and facilities related to the application of nuclear science and technology. Find out What’s New, check out the Standards Store, or Get Involved today!
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August 2025
Latest News
Watch as solid hydrogen is extruded to feed German stellarator
In May, the Wendelstein 7-X stellarator in Greifswald, Germany, concluded an experimental campaign by sustaining a plasma with a high triple product for 43 seconds. The machine far surpassed its own previous performance with a value that the Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics (IPP) says “exceeds previous tokamak records for long plasma durations”—in part because of a fuel pellet injection system developed by researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
Watch ORNL’s video of that fuel pellet injection system—in use since September 2024—as it extrudes a column of frozen hydrogen and then cuts individual 3.2-millimeter-long pellets. The process, which takes just half a millisecond, was captured in slow motion by ORNL engineer Steve Meitner.
UWC Opening Plenary: Driving Transformational Change Keynote SPeaker
NRC Commissioner
The Honorable Christopher T. Hanson was sworn in as a Commissioner of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission on June 8, 2020, and is filling the remainder of a five-year term ending on June 30, 2024.
Hanson has more than two decades of government and private-sector experience in the fields of nuclear energy. Prior to joining the NRC, he served as a Staff Member on the Senate Appropriations Committee, where he oversaw civilian and national security nuclear programs.
Before working in the Senate, Hanson served as a Senior Advisor in the Department of Energy's Office of Nuclear Energy. He also served in the Office of the Chief Financial Officer, where he oversaw nuclear and environmental cleanup programs, and managed the Department's relationship with Congressional Appropriations Committees. Prior to joining the Department, he served as a consultant at Booz Allen Hamilton where he led multiple engagements for government and industry in the energy sector.
Hanson earned master's degrees from Yale Divinity School and Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, where he focused on ethics and natural resource economics. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Religious Studies from Valparaiso University in Valparaiso, Indiana.
Last modified July 15, 2020, 11:10am EDT
