ANS is committed to advancing, fostering, and promoting the development and application of nuclear sciences and technologies to benefit society.
Explore the many uses for nuclear science and its impact on energy, the environment, healthcare, food, and more.
Explore membership for yourself or for your organization.
Conference Spotlight
2026 ANS Winter Conference & Expo
November 15–18, 2026
Phoenix, AZ|Arizona Grand Resort & Spa
Latest Magazine Issues
Aug 2026
Jan 2026
2026
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
October 2026
Nuclear Technology
September 2026
Fusion Science and Technology
August 2026
Latest News
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.
L. A. Lawrence, D. C. Hata, D. F. Washburn
Nuclear Technology | Volume 41 | Number 1 | November 1978 | Pages 60-70
Technical Paper | Fuel | doi.org/10.13182/NT78-A32133
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Significant actinide redistribution was observed in the outer low-temperature region of uranium-plutonium mixed-oxide fuel Data from the large number of fuel pins examined indicated boundaries within which redistribution in the outer low-temperature regions of the fuel occurred. Plutonium redistribution was not observed in fuel pins with an initial fuel oxygen-to-metal ratio (O/M) of >1.98 or in fuel irradiated to burnups of <5.0 at.%. Fuel pins with an initial O/M ratio of 1.96 exhibited plutonium enrichments on the fuel outer periphery at a burnup of ≥5.0 at.%. At ∼6.5 at.% burnup, a transition in character of the actinide distribution occurred, resulting in plutonium enrichments in the equiaxed grain region and uranium enrichments on the outer periphery of the fuel. Increasing the fuel initial O/M to 1.97 decreased the burnup at which plutonium enrichment occurred near the equiaxed grain region from 6.5 to 5.0 at.%. Conversely, decreasing the initial O/M ratio from 1.96 to 1.95 increased the burnup at which plutonium enrichment occurred in the equiaxed grain region from ∼6.5 to ∼7.5 at.%.