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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. Bruce Matthews, Richard J. Herbst
Nuclear Technology | Volume 63 | Number 1 | October 1983 | Pages 9-22
Technical Paper | Fission Reactor | doi.org/10.13182/NT83-A33299
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Uranium-plutonium carbide offers an improved fuel system for advanced breeder reactors. The high-thermal conductivity and density of carbide fuels permit superior breeding performance and high specific power operation. These advantages combine to increase plutonium production, reduce fuel cycle and power costs, and lower plant capital costs. The carbide advantages are obtained at conservative fuel system design and operating conditions. Carbide fabrication technology has been demonstrated by the production of quality-assured fuel elements for irradiation testing. The carbide irradiation test program has demonstrated that high burnup can be achieved with several designs and that the consequences of postulated off-normal operating events are benign. Design bases to support helium- and sodium-bonded carbide fuel pin test irradiations in the Fast Flux Test Facility have been developed in the Experimental Breeder Reactor and the Transient Reactor irradiation tests.