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.
C. T. Walker, S. Pickering
Nuclear Technology | Volume 42 | Number 2 | February 1979 | Pages 207-215
Technical Paper | Thorium Fuel Cycle in a Breeder Economy / Material | doi.org/10.13182/NT79-A32151
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Analyses were performed on three mixed-oxide fuel pins. Two were irradiated in a fast flux, one in an epithermal-neutron flux. The compositions of the corrosion product phases in the fuel-cladding gaps of the different pins were similar. The phase was essentially a mixture of metal oxides, with chromium oxide the main constituent. Cesium chromate, if it formed at all, was present in only small amounts. Oxides of iron and nickel were not detected, which suggests that the oxygen potential in the gap did not exceed that for the FeCr2O4 formation. Metallic fragments in the phase resulted from mechanical interactions involving the phase and cladding grains whose boundaries had been weakened by intergranular corrosion. Chromium and manganese were lost from the inner cladding surface of all three pins. Titanium loss also occurred from the two pins clad with titanium-stabilized steel. A grain boundary phase depleted in chromium was present at the inner cladding surface of one of the pins irradiated in a fast flux. The phase that was associated with intergranular attack occurred in advance of the corrosion front.