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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.
Koki Hibi, Masato Uchita
Nuclear Technology | Volume 145 | Number 3 | March 2004 | Pages 239-246
Technical Paper | Fission Reactors | doi.org/10.13182/NT04-A3473
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
This study presents the conceptual design of the recycle pressurized water reactor (RPWR), which is an innovative PWR fueled with mixed oxide, moderated by heavy water, and having breeding ratios around 1.1. Most of the systems of RPWR can employ those of PWRs. The RPWR has no boric acid systems and has a small tritium removal system. The construction and operation costs would be similar to those of current PWRs. Heavy water cost has decreased drastically with up-to-date producing methods. The reliability of the systems of the RPWR is high, and the research and development cost for RPWR is very low because the core design is fundamentally based on the current PWR technology.