ANS is committed to advancing, fostering, and promoting the development and application of nuclear sciences and technologies to benefit society.
Explore the many uses for nuclear science and its impact on energy, the environment, healthcare, food, and more.
Explore membership for yourself or for your organization.
Conference Spotlight
2026 Nuclear Energy Conference & Expo (NECX)
August 24–27, 2026
Dallas, TX|Hilton Anatole
Latest Magazine Issues
Aug 2026
Jan 2026
2026
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
October 2026
Nuclear Technology
September 2026
Fusion Science and Technology
August 2026
Latest News
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.
Kevin R. Robb, Matthew W. Francis, Larry J. Ott
Nuclear Technology | Volume 186 | Number 2 | May 2014 | Pages 145-160
Technical Paper | Reactor Safety | doi.org/10.13182/NT13-43
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
During the emergency response period of the accidents that took place at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant (NPP) in March of 2011, researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) conducted a number of studies using the MELCOR code to help understand what was occurring and what had occurred. During the postaccident period, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) jointly sponsored a study of the Fukushima Daiichi NPP accident with collaboration among ORNL, Sandia National Laboratories, and Idaho National Laboratory. The purpose of the study was to compile relevant data, reconstruct the accident progression using computer codes, assess the codes' predictive capabilities, and identify future data needs. The current paper summarizes some of the early MELCOR simulations and analyses conducted at ORNL of the Fukushima Daiichi NPP Unit 3 (1F3) accident. Extended analysis and discussion of the 1F3 accident are also presented taking into account new knowledge and modeling refinements made since the joint DOE-NRC study.