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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.
Karl Richter, Jean Gueugnon, Gerard Kramer, Carlo Sari, Paul Werner
Nuclear Technology | Volume 70 | Number 3 | September 1985 | Pages 401-407
Technical Paper | Nuclear Fuel | doi.org/10.13182/NT85-A15966
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
For fabrication of MX-type (M = actinides; X = carbon and/or nitrogen) advanced fuels, for example, uranium-plutonium carbides for the fast breeder, the carbothermic reduction process of oxides, with subsequent crushing and ballmilling of the reaction product, pressing, and sintering has been generally adopted. A new fabrication procedure, the direct pressing (DP) method, based on the carbothermic reduction process, is presented, however, without intermediate comminution. The fuel is directly processed to pellets. MX powder handling and dust generation within the working area are avoided. The principle and advantages of the new fabrication procedure are reported. The feasibility of the DP method has been demonstrated in laboratory scale on (U,Pu)C fuel pellet preparation. Fuel data compared with the conventional method are given.