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
2025 ANS Winter Conference & Expo
November 9–12, 2025
Washington, DC|Washington Hilton
Standards Program
The Standards Committee is responsible for the development and maintenance of voluntary consensus standards that address the design, analysis, and operation of components, systems, and facilities related to the application of nuclear science and technology. Find out What’s New, check out the Standards Store, or Get Involved today!
Latest Magazine Issues
Oct 2025
Jul 2025
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
November 2025
Nuclear Technology
October 2025
Fusion Science and Technology
Latest News
The journey of the U.S. fuel cycle
Craig Piercycpiercy@ans.org
While most big journeys begin with a clear objective, they rarely start with an exact knowledge of the route. When commissioning the Lewis and Clark expedition in 1803, President Thomas Jefferson didn’t provide specific “turn right at the big mountain” directions to the Corps of Discovery. He gave goal-oriented instructions: explore the Missouri River, find its source, search for a transcontinental water route to the Pacific, and build scientific and cultural knowledge along the way.
Jefferson left it up to Lewis and Clark to turn his broad, geopolitically motivated guidance into gritty reality.
Similarly, U.S. nuclear policy has begun a journey toward closing the U.S. nuclear fuel cycle. There is a clear signal of support for recycling from the Trump administration, along with growing bipartisan excitement in Congress. Yet the precise path remains unclear.
Antonio Frattolillo, Silvio Migliori, Stephen K. Combs, Stanley L. Milora
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 32 | Number 4 | December 1997 | Pages 601-609
Technical Paper | Special Section: Plasma Control Issues for Tokamaks / Fusion Fuel Cycle | doi.org/10.13182/FST97-A19907
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Next-step fusion devices, like the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER), and future fusion power plants will require a flexible plasma fueling system, including both gas puffing and high- and low-speed pellet injection. To sustain core plasma density, relatively large pellets penetrating beyond the separatrix will have to be provided at a repetition rate of ∼1 Hz for very long pulse operation. In the context of a cooperative agreement between the U.S. Department of Energy and the Euratom-ENEA Association, Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) has collaborated with ENEA Frascati to demonstrate the feasibility of a high-speed (2 to 3 km/s) repeating (∼1-Hz) pneumatic pellet injector for long-pulse operation. A test facility was assembled at ORNL that combined a Frascati repeating two-stage light-gas gun and an existing ORNL deuterium extruder, equipped with a pellet chambering mechanism/gun barrel assembly. It was operated in the course of three joint experimental campaigns between September 1993 and May 1995. The results of the first two campaigns appear in an earlier paper. Here, the results are reported of the third campaign, during which the original objectives of the collaboration were met. Both performance and reliability of the system were improved, with the facility's being capable of delivering sequences of 2.7-mm deuterium pellets at a repetition rate of 1 Hz and velocities up to 2.5 km/s. The test facility was also briefly operated with neon pellets to explore the potential to produce fast “killer” pellets. Speeds of 1.7 km/s were easily achieved using a piston mass of 43 g. Higher speeds should be achievable with a system specifically designed for neon or other high-Z gases.