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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.
Terrence A. Renner, Donald J. Raue
Nuclear Technology | Volume 42 | Number 3 | March 1979 | Pages 312-319
Technical Paper | Material | doi.org/10.13182/NT79-A32185
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The permeability of tritium through Fe-2¼Cr-1 Mo steel (Croloy) steam generator material has been measured for the surface-clean metal and for the metal oxidized in steam at 755 K (482°C). The temperature dependence of tritium permeability has been measured for the unoxidized metal between 673 and 773 K; the apparent activation energy for permeation in this temperature range was found to be 39.14 ± 0.32 kJ/mol (9350 ± 80 cal/mol). After steam oxidation at 755 K and 0.2 MPa (2 atm) for about one month, the tritium permeation rate decreased by a factor of ≈150 relative to the clean metal. This reduction factor agrees very well with that measured for a sample of tubing used in Atomics International’s Modular Steam Generator experiments under typical liquid-metal fast breeder reactor steam generator conditions. These results may be used to calculate rates of tritium transport from the intermediate heat transport system sodium through the steam generator tubes and into the steam/water system. From this information, eventual release rates to the environment can be determined.