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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.
M. Labrousse, B. Lerouge, G. Dupuy, J. P. Schwartz
Nuclear Technology | Volume 38 | Number 2 | April 1978 | Pages 242-247
Technical Paper | Low-Temperature Nuclear Heat / Reactor | doi.org/10.13182/NT78-A32019
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
THERMOS is a water reactor designed to provide hot water up to 120°C for district heating or for desalination applications. It is a 100-MW reactor based on proven technology: oxide fuel plate elements, integrated primary circuit, and reactor vessel located in the bottom of a pool. As in swimming pool reactors, the pool is used for biological shielding, emergency core cooling, and fission product filtering (in case of an accident). Before economics, safety is the main characteristic of the concept: no fuel failure admitted, core under water in any accidental configuration, inspection of every “nuclear” component, and double-wall containment.