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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.
J. Chin, T. Ohkawa
Nuclear Technology | Volume 32 | Number 2 | February 1977 | Pages 115-124
Technical Paper | Reactor | doi.org/10.13182/NT77-A31717
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The feasibility of in situ regeneration of a deuterium-tritium (D-T) fusion reactor first wall is explored. Chemical and physical vapor deposition processes are considered for applying low-Z materials and metals. Trial deposits of carbon, SiC, Si3N4, and (Si, Al)N were prepared by one or both of these fabrication techniques. Material properties such as chemical composition, impurity concentration, morphology, and crystal structure thought to be important in first wall performance were found to be controllable by the vapor deposition process conditions. Chemical composition of the gas mixtures, substrate temperature, and deposition pressures were parameters that influenced material properties in all vapor deposition processes. These parameters may be expected to be controllable in a D-T fusion reactor chamber. Temperature can be adjusted within the plasma zone by a glow discharge. The chemical composition of the reactant gases can be controllable by an auxiliary gas supply and exhaust systems. Gas pressure control within the reactor is a required feature of any fusion reactor system. In situ regeneration of the fusion first wall by vapor deposition processes thus appears feasible.