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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.
J. A. Mowrey, S. I. Abdel-Khalik, K. W. Ross
Nuclear Technology | Volume 111 | Number 2 | August 1995 | Pages 283-302
Technical Paper | Nuclear Criticality Safety Special / Reactor Operation | doi.org/10.13182/NT95-A35138
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A RELAP5/MOD3.1 model of a boiling water reactor and an interface are developed as a real-time test platform for a physical feedwater control system and turbine governors. The reactor plant modeled is Browns Ferry unit 2. The model is used to test and tune the new digital reactor feedwater control system (RFWCS) for units 2 and 3. The set of modeled components, trips, and controls is determined based on the testing requirements for the RFWCS. The work is performed in two phases. In the first phase, the existing plant is modeled, including the previously existing analog feedwater control system and governor. The resulting RELAP5 model is benchmarked against existing plant data. Benchmarking results are presented along with data on initialization to steady state. Once the benchmarking effort is completed, the control systems in the model are altered to allow testing of the digital RFWCS in real time. An interface is developed to allow communications with the digital RFWCS and operator interaction, which allows the test platform to be used to determine control system response to various transients. Descriptions of the RELAP5 model and hardware and software for the interface are provided.