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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.
Edmund T. Rumble, Boyer B. Chu
Nuclear Technology | Volume 79 | Number 1 | October 1987 | Pages 7-19
Technical Paper | Fission Reactor | doi.org/10.13182/NT87-A16001
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The application of systems reliability analysis (SRA) at nuclear power plants is broadening from its initial focus on safety-related design considerations to also include operations and maintenance (O&M) issues. Effective analysis of O&M questions requires increased resources and support such as accurate and timely plant feedback. A new approach has been developed that links data from plant information management systems with systems reliability tools and models. This approach is being automated in a software system named RAPID (Reliability Assessment Program with In-Plant Data). The objective of RAPID is to provide an environment for SRA with potential for dramatically improving the quality, quantity, and timeliness of plant reliability information available for decision making, especially for O&M issues. At the same time, the system should enhance engineering efficiency by automating access to such needed resources as plant data, logic models, and evaluation codes. A developmental version of RAPID is operational at the Arizona Nuclear Power Project, where features for supporting engineering activities are being demonstrated.