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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.
Paul A. Howard, Juan J. Carbajo
Nuclear Technology | Volume 44 | Number 2 | July 1979 | Pages 210-220
Technical Paper | Reactor | doi.org/10.13182/NT79-A32256
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
An experimental study was made of the transient behavior of the coolant in a generalized outlet plenum after a scram in a liquid-metal fast breeder reactor. Different conditions of fluid flow rate and temperature and plenum geometry were used for a three-exit loop-type reactor system. Water was used to simulate the coolant, and a small-scale model was used to simulate the various generalized plenum configurations. Thermocouples monitored the temperatures at 48 locations within the outlet plenum. The thermohydraulic behavior within the plenum has been studied in detail; analysis of this behavior is described as having three consecutive discrete stages. Correlations found in the literature accurately predict the height of the negatively buoyant plume. New correlations have been obtained.