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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.
Della M. Roy, George R. Gouda
Nuclear Technology | Volume 40 | Number 2 | September 1978 | Pages 214-219
Technical Note | Tutorial Materials/Design Interaction in Nuclear System / Chemical Processing | doi.org/10.13182/NT78-A26717
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A feasibility study has demonstrated that very strong, durable, relatively impermeable cylinders may be prepared by hot pressing combinations of cements with simulated radioactive waste solids. While the properties have not been studied exhaustively, the results suggest an optional method for immobilization and isolation of radioactive waste. Samples prepared with calcium aluminate cements appeared to have properties superior to those with Portland cements. Four simulated radioactive waste compositions having high rare-earth oxide contents, and some containing a large excess of NaNO3, were studied. Modest temperatures [423 to 673 K (150 to 400°C)] were used for hot pressing at pressures from 178 to 345 MPa. Dense strong very low porosity specimens resulted when mixtures containing from 10 to 50% waste were hot pressed, incorporating also a small percentage of water. In addition, high-strength cement cylinders were prepared with the waste solid (∼20 wt% waste) in a separate core and were very resistant to leaching by water near its boiling point. With this configuration, even the NaNO3-containing wastes were resistant to leaching by water.