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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.
Stuart A. Maloy, Walter F. Sommer, Michael R. James, Tobias J. Romero, Manuel R. Lopez, Eugene Zimmermann, James M. Ledbetter
Nuclear Technology | Volume 132 | Number 1 | October 2000 | Pages 103-114
Technical Paper | Accelerator Applications | doi.org/10.13182/NT00-A3132
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A materials qualification program has been developed to irradiate and test candidate materials (alloy 718, Type 316L, and Type 304L stainless steel, modified Fe9Cr-1Mo(T91), Al-6061-T6, and Al-5052-O) for use in the Accelerator Production of Tritium (APT) target and blanket. The irradiations were performed in prototypic proton and neutron spectra at prototypic temperatures (50 to 160°C). The study used the 800-MeV, 1.0-mA proton accelerator at the Los Alamos Neutron Science Center, which produces a Gaussian beam with 2 sigma = 3 cm. The experiment geometry is arranged to contain near-prototypic modules of the tungsten neutron source and the lead and aluminum blanket as well as mechanical test specimens of candidate APT materials. The particle spectrum varies throughout the irradiation volume; specimens are exposed to protons and a variety of mixed proton and neutron spectra, depending on the specimen's position relative to the beam center. These specimens have been irradiated for >3600 h to a maximum proton fluence of 4 × 1021 p/cm2 in the center of the proton beam. Specimens will yield data on the effect of proton irradiation, to high dose, on material properties from tensile tests, three-point bend tests, fracture toughness tests, pressurized tubes, U-bend stress corrosion cracking specimens, corrosion measurements, and microstructural characterization using transmission electron microscopy specimens. Results from these studies are applicable to all spallation neutron sources now in operation and under consideration, including the Spallation Neutron Source, the European Spallation Source, and The Accelerator Transmutation of Waste project.