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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.
E. D. Clayton, B. M. Durst
Nuclear Technology | Volume 33 | Number 1 | April 1977 | Pages 110-111
Technical Note | Chemical Processing | doi.org/10.13182/NT77-A31768
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Calculations of the infinite multiplication factor for aqueous homogeneous mixtures of mixed oxides of plutonium and natural uranium at low fissile concentrations (7 g Pu/ℓ ) disclose a maximum to occur in the value of k∞ at a weight fraction, Pu/(Pu + U), of ∼0.0035. With mixed oxide solutions containing 7 g Pu/ℓ, the value of k∞ is estimated to be nearly 1.04, whereas in the absence of the natural uranium, the maximum value of k∞ at 7 g Pu/ℓ in water is ∼4% less or near unity. The occurrence of this peak in value of k∞ is due to the 235U content in the natural uranium. Thus, in the presence of natural uranium, it should be borne in mind that the limiting subcritical concentration of plutonium (given as 7.0 g Pu/ℓ) in water must be reduced to values <7.0 g Pu/ℓ to ensure sub criticality of the mixture.