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
Aug 2026
Jan 2026
2026
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
October 2026
Nuclear Technology
Fusion Science and Technology
August 2026
Latest News
Fuel loading process begins at Palisades
The Palisades nuclear power plant has drawn closer to restart, as plant staff began the process of loading fuel into the reactor vessel on Sunday morning.
The commencement of fuel loading places the Covert, Mich., facility in Mode 6—or the refueling stage—under the plant’s technical specifications, plant owner and operator Holtec International said in a news release. The Palisades reactor core consists of 204 fuel assemblies that include new fuel and partially used fuel from the plant’s most recent operating cycles. According to Holtec, the fuel loading is being conducted in accordance with plant procedures and technical specifications.
Stephen N. Gilliam, Jamie B. Coble, Steven E. Skutnik
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 195 | Number 9 | September 2021 | Pages 965-976
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.1080/00295639.2021.1883399
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
In this paper, we investigate the possibility of plutonium quantification within the electrorefiner vessel of an electrochemical separation facility via the use of the (α,n) neutron signature from dissolved actinides. As a potential alternative means to traditional spontaneous fission tracking, such an analysis may provide a more reliable tracking capability of plutonium within systems that produce a mixed matrix sample that yields a large (α,n) source term relative to that of spontaneous fission. This assessment includes an evaluation and breakdown of nuclides within the refining unit to differentiate the source of neutrons and then the ratio between (α,n) emissions to total neutron emissions given a range of fuel parameters. Next, we provide an assessment of the origin of (α,n) neutrons in relation to multiple isotopes of plutonium to determine the potential of a direct tracking method. Preliminary results indicate that the (α,n) contribution for electrochemical systems is much higher than in its aqueous counterpart and rivals spontaneous fission yield in terms of magnitude. Furthermore, 238Pu is shown to be a main contributor to the (α,n) yield for the fuel examined in this study.