ANS is committed to advancing, fostering, and promoting the development and application of nuclear sciences and technologies to benefit society.
Explore the many uses for nuclear science and its impact on energy, the environment, healthcare, food, and more.
Explore membership for yourself or for your organization.
Conference Spotlight
2026 ANS Annual Conference
May 31–June 3, 2026
Denver, CO|Sheraton Denver
Latest Magazine Issues
Jan 2026
Jul 2025
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
February 2026
Nuclear Technology
January 2026
Fusion Science and Technology
November 2025
Latest News
Westinghouse teams with Nordion and PSEG to produce Co-60 at Salem
Westinghouse Electric Company, Nordion, and PSEG Nuclear announced on Tuesday the signing of long-term agreements to establish the first commercial-scale production of cobalt-60 in a U.S. nuclear reactor. Under the agreements, the companies are to apply newly developed production technology for pressurized water reactors to produce Co-60 at PSEG’s Salem nuclear power plant in New Jersey.
S. J. Meitner, L. R. Baylor
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 79 | Number 8 | November 2023 | Pages 1065-1070
Research Article | doi.org/10.1080/15361055.2023.2174335
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A continuous pellet fueling system (CPFS) for use on the Wendelstein 7-X (W7-X) stellarator has been fabricated and assembled with commissioning tests completed at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). Continuous fueling is accomplished by cutting pellets from the cross section of a continuous solid extrusion produced by a twin-screw extruder and accelerated by a gas gun cutter mechanism. The pellets travel through a series of straight guide tubes before entering the stellarator through a curved guide tube. The CPFS has an array of diagnostics that include the extruder torque, rotation rate, and thrust. A shock and pressure sensor provide verification of proper pellet cutting and acceleration. Two ORNL-developed microwave cavity diagnostics within the injection line guide tubes provide pellet speed and relative mass measurements. For commissioning, a high-speed camera has been positioned at the base of the extruder to verify extrusion speed and quality as well as the pellet cutting process, and a third microwave cavity has been mounted after the curved guide tube to verify pellet quality and size. Maximum injection rate, pellet speed, barrel and guide tube induced erosion, and pellet survivability data have been recorded. This paper presents the laboratory experimental setup and results of these commissioning tests.