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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. J. DiMelfi
Nuclear Technology | Volume 52 | Number 1 | January 1981 | Pages 134-138
Technical Note | Fuel | doi.org/10.13182/NT81-A32698
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Fuel behavior maps have been constructed based on an analysis developed previously by the author. The maps enable one to see at a glance fuel behavior in transient parameter space as predicted by the model. The transient conditions under which fuel responds in either a brittle or ductile manner are defined within the context of the model and displayed in the maps. The nature and disposition of grain boundary fission gas, i.e., either contained in brittle cracks or equilibrium bubbles, at the time of fuel melting are also considered. Two general types of maps are constructed, each providing a different perspective on transient parameter space.