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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.
Byung Wook Kim, Hyunsang Cho, Juan Wachs, Richard M. Voyles
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 199 | Number 8 | August 2025 | Pages 1310-1324
Research Article | doi.org/10.1080/00295639.2024.2423539
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
High-consequence materials, such as nuclear waste, pose significant risks if improperly handled. Gloveboxes provide a controlled environment to manage these materials safely, yet they present challenges in operator safety, efficiency, and ergonomics. This paper addresses these challenges by presenting a proof-of-concept framework for Semi-Autonomous Robot Teleportation for Nuclear Glovebox Processing (SART-NGP). Unlike the existing manual systems already in use at nuclear facilities, the SART-NGP framework incorporates adjustable autonomy capabilities, drawing inspiration from advancements in surgical robotics. By integrating high-level human inputs, semi-autonomous execution, robust feedback mechanisms, and a simulator-based interface, this framework significantly enhances safety and efficiency while alleviating ergonomic concerns associated with glovebox processing in nuclear facilities. Although we have not fully solved the challenges associated with nuclear glovebox processing, our research provides promising insights and methodologies that may significantly improve the management of high-consequence materials and augments existing efforts in self-driving labs for glovebox operations. The findings suggest that the SART-NGP framework holds substantial potential for enhancing glovebox processing in nuclear facilities, with future work focusing on its real-world implementation and evaluation.