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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.
Douglas C. Hunt, Deanne Dickinson
Nuclear Technology | Volume 30 | Number 2 | August 1976 | Pages 190-214
Technical Paper | Criticality Array Data and Calculational Method / Chemical Processing | doi.org/10.13182/NT76-A31615
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The , albedo, interaction potential, weighted interaction Oak Ridge Gaseous Diffusion Plant solid-angle, s/v surface density, fraction critical surface density, and equilateral hyperbola methods are compared by attempting to apply them to 14 different example arrays. The example arrays are distinguished by the type of fissile material in the array units and by the number of units in each array. Arrays with units of Pu(95) metal, U(93) metal, damp U(93)O2, dry Pu(95)O2, U(93)O2(NO3)2 solution, Pu(95)(NO3)4 solution, or U(5)O2F2 solution are considered. It is concluded that if the user has access to a Monte Carlo code such as KENO, he is better off using it than any of the other models for criticality evaluations of specific problems. The remainder of the models are most useful in establishing possible designs for a fissile storage or processing facility. The albedo method is found to be the preferred solid-angle technique, while the s/v surface density method and the method are the most comprehensive and useful of the semiempirical techniques. The s/v method is easier to apply and covers more possible contingencies (e.g., array flooding or persons in arrays), while the method is more difficult to use but has added flexibility, broader applicability, and yields more analytical scaling relations between array parameters.