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Conference Spotlight
2026 Nuclear Energy Conference & Expo (NECX)
August 24–27, 2026
Dallas, TX|Hilton Anatole
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LLNL, Ampera partner to develop thorium-based TRISO fuel
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory has formed a strategic partnership with Ampera to develop the company’s nuclear fuel concept through a project named THUNDER, for Thorium Unimodal Droplet Ejection for Reactors.
The focus of THUNDER is fabricating TRISO made with kernels of thorium rather than the usual uranium. LLNL and Ampera will evaluate and optimize liquid metal–jetting technology to produce highly uniform, spherical kernels of thorium-232 for later processing into TRISO fuel.
Technical Session|Radioisotope Power Systems
Wednesday, May 7, 2025|10:00–11:40AM CDT|Salon EF (Marriott)
Session Chairs:
Chris Whiting (NASA Glenn Research Center)
Emily Hsu (DOE)
Track Organizer:
Harold Gerrish (NASA Marshall Space Flight Center)
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Modeling the Performance of a Cascaded Thermionic-Thermoelectric Energy Conversion System for Space Nuclear Power Systems
10:00–10:25AM CDT
Elizabeth D. Juette (Univ. California, Berkeley), Van P. Carey (Univ. California, Berkeley), Jean-Pierre Fleurial (NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory)
Paper
A Mixed Methods Approach to Modeling Performance Losses In Thermoelectric Generators Due to Material Sublimation
10:25–10:50AM CDT
Carter D. Gassler (Univ. Pittsburgh), Michael J. Durka (Univ. Pittsburgh), Matthew M. Barry (Univ. Pittsburgh)
Qualification Testing of the ESA Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator
10:50–11:15AM CDT
Ramy Mesalam (Univ. Leicester), Alessandra Barco (Univ. Leicester), Rob Tute (Univ. Leicester), Kris Bell (Univ. Leicester), Hannah Sargeant (Univ. Leicester), Emily Jane Watkinson (Univ. Leicester), Tony Crawford (Univ. Leicester), Christopher Bicknell (Univ. Leicester), Richard Ambrosi (Univ. Leicester), Christophe Fongarland (ESA)
Testing and Characterization of Industrial Thermoelectric Modules for Space Applications
11:15–11:40AM CDT
Kenton Sherick (Univ. Dayton Research Institute), Boyd Allen Tolson (Univ. Dayton Research Institute), Matthew Johnson (Univ. Dayton Research Institute), Asa Palmer (Univ. Dayton Research Institute), Christopher Venturella (Univ. Dayton Research Institute), Rebecca Hoffman (Univ. Dayton Research Institute), Chadwick Barklay (Univ. Dayton Research Institute)
