Nuclear fuel assembly. Glove boxes used to load nuclear fuel pellets into fuel pins at a nuclear fuel assembly factory. Glove boxes and automated processes are used to minimise the exposure of the workers to the radioactive materials. The nuclear fuel pellets handled here contain mixed oxide (MOX) fuel, which is a mixture of plutonium and uranium. The fuel pellets are loaded one on top of the other into long fuel pins, up to 3 metres long, and used to create controlled nuclear fission reactions in nuclear reactors. This is the Melox factory in Marcoule, France. Photographed in 2004.