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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.
R. Kolowith, D. V. Archer, F. E. Holt, W. C. Miller, J. J. McCown
Nuclear Technology | Volume 53 | Number 2 | May 1981 | Pages 241-249
Technical Paper | Realistic Estimates of the Consequences of Nuclear Accident / Nuclear Fuel | doi.org/10.13182/NT81-A32630
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Development of two in-core gas release devices has been completed. Both of these passive devices are sealed with low-melting-point, fusible materials and can produce controlled, predictable releases of gas. The two devices can simulate typical burst and slow gas releases from reactor fuel pin cladding breaches and will be used during acceptance testing of the Fuel Failure Monitoring System of the Fast Flux Test Facility. A series of feature tests was first performed to demonstrate the feasibility of using fusible plugs to seal gas capsules and achieve controlled, predictable releases. Development efforts continued with a gas loading demonstration and gas release characterization studies of both types of capsules. Finally, a water flow test was conducted in a full-scale prototype gas release capsule assembly to verify structural integrity of the design.