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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.
W. P. Barthold, J. C. Beitel
Nuclear Technology | Volume 44 | Number 1 | June 1979 | Pages 44-60
Technical Paper | Reactor | doi.org/10.13182/NT79-A32237
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Six homogeneous and heterogeneous core configurations with different fuel pin diameters and different degrees of neutronic coupling have been analyzed. All designs were based on the same design assumptions and constraints. Homogeneous and heterogeneous designs were evaluated with respect to fissile inventory, flux and power distribution, burnup, breeding ratio and doubling times, sodium void reactivity, Doppler coefficient, control rod worth, and transient response. The sensitivity of breeding performance to different fuel life criteria was determined.