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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.
R. G. Gonzalez, F. D'Auria, O. Mazzantini
Nuclear Technology | Volume 194 | Number 1 | April 2016 | Pages 61-72
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NT14-155
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Atucha-2 is a Siemens-designed pressurized heavy water reactor located in Argentina. Its geometrical complexity and peculiarity [e.g., oblique control rods (CRs) and positive void coefficient] required a developed and validated complex three-dimensional (3-D) neutron kinetics (NK) model. In the framework of the agreement between NA-SA (Nucleo-electrica Argentina Sociedad Anonima) and the University of Pisa, a detailed NESTLE (3-D NK code) model of the Atucha-2 nuclear power plant (NPP) was developed. This document summarizes the procedures for implementing oblique CRs into the RELAP5/NESTLE model: A particular arrangement of the RELAP5/NESTLE CR insertion mode for oblique CRs and an implementation into the homogenized two-group cross sections of ad hoc calculated correction factors (these parameters were obtained by previously executed Monte Carlo calculations) were developed. Some applications, among the scenarios selected to perform safety analysis (Final Safety Analysis Report) of the Atucha-2 NPP (CNA-II), are also reported: preliminary scram rod worth, analysis of a CR ejection accident, and a CR faulty withdrawal.