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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.
Laurence Rault, Murielle Heusch, Michel Allibert, Florent Lemort, Xavier Deschanel, Roger Boen
Nuclear Technology | Volume 139 | Number 2 | August 2002 | Pages 167-174
Technical Paper | Reprocessing | doi.org/10.13182/NT02-A3311
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The investigation of the actinide and lanthanide distribution between a liquid metal and a molten fluoride salt shows a significant increase of the separation coefficient by using an aluminum-based pyrochemical system instead of a zinc-based system. The obtained values partly depend on the LiF/AlF3 ratio and can reach more than 30 000 when AlF3 is in excess with regard to the formation of the cryolite (Li3 AlF6). Furthermore, in the metal phase, the aluminum interacts with the lanthanides to a lesser extent than in other usual metallic solvents. This opens a new way to explore the feasibility of the separation of actinides and lanthanides in the field of nuclear fuel reprocessing.