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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.
Warren F. Witzig, Michael E. Foster
Nuclear Technology | Volume 38 | Number 2 | April 1978 | Pages 258-263
Technical Paper | Low-Temperature Nuclear Heat / Radioactive Waste | doi.org/10.13182/NT78-A32022
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The concept of utilizing processed fission product wastes as a heat source to produce low-pressure steam in a nuclear waste boiler (NWB) has been analyzed. The conceptual NWB design utilizes solidified wastes from spent fuel reprocessing plants in a natural circulation boiler that is sectionalized to permit continuous operation during refueling. Any one of several proposed commercial solidification processes provides wastes in a containerized form suitable, without modification, to be used in this concept. The NWB is analyzed in terms of its fuel cycle, design, safety, and economic potential. It is competitive with fossil plants of similar capacity in limited applications when substantial quantities of waste are available.