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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.
Alireza Sedaghat, Frank S. Castellana, Robert H. Hsu, Robert B. Macduff
Nuclear Technology | Volume 80 | Number 3 | March 1988 | Pages 360-370
Technical Paper | Fission Reactor | doi.org/10.13182/NT88-A34060
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Diversion cross flow was characterized from a two-subchannel simulation of a nuclear fuel assembly using a gamma camera. The gamma camera allowed external monitoring over the length of the test assembly, thereby eliminating experimental problems associated with flow partitioning and an isokinetic withdrawal system, allowing the possibility of noninvasive measurement. The experiment was performed by providing fixed but different flow rates to each subchannel. The higher mass flow rate stream was traced with a gamma-emitting radionuclide, 99mTc pertechnetate. Activity in each subchannel was measured by the camera. Diversion length was found to be relatively small and strongly dependent on gap spacing. Effective lateral velocity through the gap was also evaluated. With some exceptions, the results were in good agreement with the predictions of the subchannel analysis computer code COBRA IIIC. At a high inlet axial mass velocity ratio of 4, however, the agreement with the prediction was poor.