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 Annual Conference
May 31–June 3, 2026
Denver, CO|Sheraton Denver
Latest Magazine Issues
Mar 2026
Jan 2026
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
April 2026
Nuclear Technology
February 2026
Fusion Science and Technology
Latest News
U.K. vision for fusion
The U.K. government has announced a series of initiatives to progress fusion to commercialization, laid out in a fusion strategy policy paper published March 16. A New Energy Revolution: The UK’s Plan for Delivering Fusion Energy begins to describe how the government’s £2.5 billion (about $3.4 billion) investment in fusion research and development over five years will be allocated.
S. K. Combs, S. L. Milora, C. A. Foster, D. D. Schuresko, J. T. Hogan
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 4 | Number 2 | September 1983 | Pages 666-674
Plasma Heating, Impurity Control, and Fueling | doi.org/10.13182/FST83-A22936
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Pellet injectors that produce and accelerate frozen hydrogen isotope pellets are being developed at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) for fueling of present and future plasma fusion devices. The development has focused primarily on two types of injectors: (1) gas guns, which utilize a pneumatic approach to accelerate pellets in a barrel with compressed helium or hydrogen propellant, and (2) centrifuge-type injectors, in which pellets are accelerated by centrifugal forces in a high-speed rotating track. In a single-pellet pneumatic injector, pellet speeds up to 1.4 km/s have been achieved. Three multipellet injection systems (ORNL four-pellet pneumatic design) are now functional, one each on the Poloidal Divertor Experiment (PDX), Alcator-C, and the Impurity Study Experiment (ISX-B). Currently, two repetitive devices (one of each injector type) are in operation to demonstrate steady-state fueling systems in the reactor-relevant parameter ranges of 1-km/s pellet velocity, variable pellet sizes up to 2 mm, and feed rates up to 10–40 pellets/s. The injector designs are described and operating characteristics discussed.