1987Year LEAD: A method of treating nuclear fuel for convenient use in a reactor has been devised for the Department of Energy. Drops of fuel are gelled to form spheres that can be fitted compactly in the fuel cells. The gelling material used is heated perchloroethylene. PATENTS

1984Year An automatic apparatus for sorting nuclear fuel pellets and placing them on trays was patented this week for the General Electric Company, San Jose, Calif. PATENTS

1983Year Questions appear on page 10. 1. To allow the Secret Service to use the computers to track people it believes may pose a threat to officials they guard. 2. The Tokamak Fusion Test Reactor was turned on, and it worked

1988Year LEAD: A nuclear fusion reactor was patented this week for the Department of Energy by staff members at the Princeton University Plasma Physics Laboratory in New Jersey. Henry S. Greenside and two associates obtained patent 4,721,595. In the reactor, hot fuel that enhances the fusion reaction is contained by a wall made of hydrogenated semiconductors. Patents

1992Year The Fairchild Space and Defense Corporation, a unit of the French company Matra S.A., this week patented a nuclear-fueled turbocompressor to generate heat and electricity on the planet Mars. The Bush Administration has long supported a manned mission to Mars, but with costs estimated in the hundreds of billions of dollars, the project has been stalled. But if humans ever walk on Mars, Fairchild's invention is designed to let them do more when they get there. Patents

1960Year nuclear unit formed under W M Davidson NEW UNIT AT THIOKOL