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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.
John Toman
Nuclear Technology | Volume 27 | Number 4 | December 1975 | Pages 692-704
Technical Paper | Nuclear Explosive | doi.org/10.13182/NT75-A24342
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The reentry drilling established communication with the top Rio Blanco detonation region at a depth of 1704 m, or ∼76 m above the top detonation center. A total of 2.8 × 106 m3 (98 × 106 ft3) of dry gas at standard conditions has now been produced during two separate test periods. Radioactive and chemical analysis of this gas and the modeling of the stimulated reservoir show the following main results: 1. No permeable connection exists between the top and the middle detonation regions, since no significant amount of the tracer incorporated in the center explosive canister was detected in the produced gas. As a consequence, results for the top detonation region only are available at this time. 2. The initial cavity radius is deduced to be 20 m (66 ft) or well within expectations. 3. Integration of the 85Kr produced indicates a yield of 34 ± 3 kt for the top explosive. 4. Of the ∼1000 Ci of tritium produced in the top explosion region, ∼5% is incorporated in the gas phase. 5. Pressure drawdown and buildup data are best reproduced by a two-layer reservoir model showing stimulated permeabilities ∼10 and 30 times original formation permeabilities, and extending to a distance of ∼3 cavity radii from the wellbore. 6. The capacity of the reservoir intercepted by the top explosive is deduced to be ∼0.2 millidarcy-meters (md-m) [0.73 millidarcy-feet (md-ft)], as contrasted with preshot estimates ranging from 1.3 md-m (4.1 md-ft) to 2.3 md-m (7.6 md-ft). Additional subsurface investigations of the other detonation regions, as well as a reevaluation of the initial reservoir properties, are in progress.