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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.
Wiktor Śyszkowski
Nuclear Technology | Volume 33 | Number 1 | April 1977 | Pages 40-59
Technical Paper | Fuel | doi.org/10.13182/NT77-A31762
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
An experimental investigation of thermal interaction of molten metals with cold liquids was made using measurements of transient temperature, pressure, and reactive force; postexperiment microscopic, metallographic, and chemical investigations completed the results. Thermal explosion, film boiling, and inverse Leidenfrost phenomena were considered. The origin of “jets” of small particles from the main particle was found to be a triggering mechanism of thermal explosion. Thermal explosion can be a phenomenon of coupled fragmentation and vapor explosion. Fast solidification was recognized as the main process that influenced fragmentation of the hot metal.