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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.
Salim N. Jahshan, William K. Terry
Nuclear Technology | Volume 110 | Number 1 | April 1995 | Pages 93-105
Fission Reactor | Burnup Credit | doi.org/10.13182/NT95-A35099
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The Broad-Application Test Reactor has been proposed for testing and isotope production missions in the early twenty-first century. Two conceptual designs, both employing metal plate fuel, light water coolant, and a heavy-water primary or secondary reflector region, survived an initial screening process. The Monte Carlo neutronics code (MCNP) was used to select one of these designs for future development. For each design, alternative fuel and pressure vessel materials were considered, and a preferred material was identified for each of the candidate designs. The design judged superior contains seven test regions, each surrounded by Zircaloy fuel annuli and enclosed by its own separate Zircaloy pressure boundary tube.