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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. J. Lackey, R. E. Blanco, A. L. Lotts
Nuclear Technology | Volume 49 | Number 2 | July 1980 | Pages 321-324
Technical Note | Radioactive Waste | doi.org/10.13182/NT80-A32494
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Much of the sol-gel technology developed for reactor fuel fabrication is applicable to fixation of radioactive waste in glass or alternative crystalline forms. Generic advantages of the sol-gel process are the absence of dust, easy pneumatic transfer and sampling of either liquids or free flowing solid microspheres, product readily sinters to high density, and simple equipment amenable to remote operation. Initial attempts to prepare one of the leading candidate crystalline waste forms via the sol-gel process were successful.