Ms. Pellman is an expert in the design and delivery of specialized hardware solutions and services at nuclear facilities. She has been involved in the design of vacuum canister sipping systems for detecting leaks in nuclear fuel assemblies currently in use in North America and Europe, and has provided technical oversight during the operation of these systems. Additionally, Ms. Pellman has contributed substantially to the design and development of DEI’s patented Smart-Sip^TM high-definition vacuum canister sipping system. In particular, she was a lead engineer for the development and qualification of a novel sipping approach that utilizes unconventional techniques to reduce background noise and concentrate dissolved fission gases in order to isolate/amplify the signal associated with a fuel leak. This approach significantly enhances leak sensitivity and reliability compared to conventional sipping systems, and has been incorporated in modular equipment configured for both vacuum canister and online fuel sipping.

Ms. Pellman is responsible for the design and fabrication of a number of other custom hardware components and systems, such as the pneumatic articulation system used in DEI’s side-entry ultrasonic fuel cleaning systems and a precision filtration system for laser peening.

Ms. Pellman is also an expert in fluid dynamics modeling and stress/structural analysis. In addition to applying this technical expertise during the design process and during experimental programs to qualify hardware for nuclear field service, she has contributed to solving unique industry challenges, including the development of a model to analyze shock waves from hydrogen detonation events in multiphase media in piping systems at the Hanford waste treatment plant. She was awarded a Bechtel Quality Coin for her technical contributions to this project.

Prior to joining DEI, Ms. Pellman worked for Vecna Technologies, Inc. and Northrop Grumman designing components for robotics and fluidic systems. She holds a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from MIT.