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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|Space Nuclear Propulsion
Wednesday, May 7, 2025|10:00–11:40AM CDT|SPOC B (Space & Rocket Center)
Session Chair:
Jason Reynolds (NASA Marshall Space Flight Center)
Alternate Chair:
Justin Milner (NASA Glenn Research Center)
Track Organizer:
Harold Gerrish (NASA Marshall Space Flight Center)
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Nuclear Thermal Propulsion Reactor: Recent Advances in Design, Materials, and Fuel Testing
10:00–10:25AM CDT
Gerald Lilienthal (General Atomics), Christina Back (General Atomics), Robert Schleicher (General Atomics), Ryan Hon (General Atomics), Jonas Opperman (General Atomics), Nicole Pacheco (General Atomics), Hesham Khalifa (General Atomics), Christopher Nodine (General Atomics), Nick Eidietis (General Atomics), Andrew Giles (General Atomics), Simrun Saini (General Atomics), Jaclynn Unangst (General Atomics), Matthew Virgen (General Atomics), Bob Noren (General Atomics), Brian Parme (General Atomics), Ray Pili (General Atomics), James Pate (General Atomics), Brian Cluggish (General Atomics), John Bolin (General Atomics), Christian Deck (General Atomics), Millie Andrews (General Atomics), Lloyd Brown (General Atomics), Qinghong Chen (General Atomics), Michael Cevallos (General Atomics), Michael Condon (General Atomics), Patrick Howard (General Atomics), Jackie Renteria (General Atomics), Kenneth Redler (General Atomics), Zachary Spidell (General Atomics), Trey Villarreal (General Atomics), Mohammad Alavi (General Atomics), Daniel-Steve Fournier (General Atomics), Daniel Keane (General Atomics)
Paper
Ground Testing Concept of Operations for the First Generation Nuclear Thermal Propulsion Engine
10:25–10:50AM CDT
Daria Nikitaeva (AMA), Matthew Duchek (AMA), Corey D. Smith (AMA)
Presentation Slides (Visible to Attendees)
Development of Sieverts Apparatus for High Pressure Thermodynamic Behavior of Zirconium Hydride
10:50–11:15AM CDT
Darrell Cheu (LANL), Aditya Shivprasad (LANL), Caitlin Kohnert (LANL), Erofili Kardoulaki (LANL)