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.
F. Botta, C. Hellwig
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 135 | Number 2 | June 2000 | Pages 165-176
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE00-A2132
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Nuclear fuel can be fabricated and used in the form of microspheres (sphere-pac fuel). The heat transport mechanisms in fuel pins containing sphere-pac fuel are however very different from those in pellet pins. They are controlled not only by the thermal conductivity of fuel, cladding, and fill gas but also by particle sizes and packing density, by their state of sintering, and by radiation and gas pressure. A theoretical model is presented accounting for all these parameters, but still simple and fast enough to be implemented into a fuel pin modeling code. The basic geometrical element for this model is derived from the orthorhombic packing. For calculation of a binary package, four different radial zones within the basic element are distinguished, i.e., neck zone, gas zone, infiltrated zone, and bypass zone. The method presented here combines an analytical one-dimensional treatment with a radial heat flow relaxation procedure simulating the second (radial) dimension. Results are compared with experimental and theoretical data from the literature. With the model presented here, sophisticated modeling of sphere-pac fuel pins is possible.