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 Winter Conference & Expo
November 15–18, 2026
Phoenix, AZ|Arizona Grand Resort & Spa
Latest Magazine Issues
Sep 2026
Jan 2026
2026
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
October 2026
Nuclear Technology
Fusion Science and Technology
Latest News
Westinghouse, Nordion, and PSEG team up to produce Co‑60 in the United States
This past January, Westinghouse Electric Company, Nordion, and PSEG Nuclear formalized agreements to implement newly developed cobalt-60 production technology at Units 1 and 2 of PSEG’s Salem nuclear power plant in New Jersey, with the Co-60 to be supplied to Nordion. Through an ongoing joint initiative, the companies aim to harness U.S. pressurized water reactors to produce a key medical isotope and build the first commercial-scale Co-60 production platform in the United States.
R. H. Rainey, J. G. Moore
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 10 | Number 4 | August 1961 | Pages 367-371
doi.org/10.13182/NSE61-A15380
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The Acid Thorex process has been developed on a laboratory scale for recovery of uranium and thorium from spent fuel solutions. The thorium and uranium are extracted by tributyl phosphate (TBP) with only the thorium nitrate and nitric acid as “salting agents.” As compared to the present Thorex process in which aluminum nitrate is employed as a salting agent, a considerably greater reduction in aqueous waste volumes is possible. With a synthetic solution of Consolidated Edison Thorium Reactor fuel as feed, uranium and thorium were decontaminated from ruthenium, zirconium-niobium, protactinium, and rare earth elements by factors of 2,000, 30,000, 1,000, and 105, respectively. The concentrated aqueous waste volume was 0.2 liter per kilogram of thorium processed. These values compare favorably with corresponding decontamination factor values for the aluminum-salted Thorex system of 600, 3,000, 3,000, and 2 × 105 and volume of 2 liters per kilogram of thorium processed.