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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.
Bernard R. Bandini, Anthony J. Baratta
Nuclear Technology | Volume 87 | Number 4 | December 1989 | Pages 926-931
Technical Paper | TMI-2: Decontamination and Waste Management / Criticality Safety | doi.org/10.13182/NT89-A27686
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Knowledge of the effective multiplication factor (keff) of variously configured damaged fuel at Three Mile Island Unit 2 (TMI-2) has greatly affected ongoing defueling operations. A recent DOT 4.3 discrete ordinates analysis has extended prior postaccident analyses of keff to “best-estimate”predictions of criticality at several crucial periods during the progression of the accident. Results from the current analysis show that the TMI-2 fuel was most likely in a highly subcritical configuration at all times during the accident. In addition, conservative calculations have shown that during the crucial initial coolant boiloff period of the accident, the conditions necessary for criticality are extremely unlikely.