ANS is committed to advancing, fostering, and promoting the development and application of nuclear sciences and technologies to benefit society.
Explore the many uses for nuclear science and its impact on energy, the environment, healthcare, food, and more.
Explore membership for yourself or for your organization.
Conference Spotlight
2026 ANS Winter Conference & Expo
November 15–18, 2026
Phoenix, AZ|Arizona Grand Resort & Spa
Latest Magazine Issues
Aug 2026
Jan 2026
2026
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
October 2026
Nuclear Technology
September 2026
Fusion Science and Technology
August 2026
Latest News
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.
L. J. Jardine, M. J. Steindler
Nuclear Technology | Volume 43 | Number 2 | April 1979 | Pages 273-284
Technical Paper | The Back End of the Light Water Reactor Fuel Cycle / Fuel Cycle | doi.org/10.13182/NT79-A16318
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A thermal analysis was made of a storage concept for a reference intact spent fuel assembly encapsulated in a metal matrix in a cylindrical canister. Maximum temperatures within the canister, as well as the canister surface temperatures, were estimated for interim storage of canisters in environments of a water basin, an air basin, and a vertical sealed storage cask. Comparisons of the thermal analyses of the metal-encapsulated concepts were made with a canister with an air filler (i.e., no metal encapsulation). A similar analysis was also made for a concept employing sheared spent fuel segments rather than an intact fuel assembly.