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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.
Gordon Kohse, David Carpenter, Yi Yuan, Pavel Hejzlar, Mujid Kazimi
Nuclear Technology | Volume 160 | Number 1 | October 2007 | Pages 150-168
Technical Paper | Annular Fuel | doi.org/10.13182/NT07-A3889
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
This paper describes an irradiation test of high-power-density internally and externally cooled annular fuel samples in the 5-MW Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) research reactor MITR-II. The design of the irradiation facility is briefly reviewed, with an emphasis on the thermal-hydraulic behavior of the irradiation capsules. The irradiation test is described, including the thermal history of the two irradiated samples. A discussion of the observed asymmetrical temperature profiles is provided. Results of preliminary postirradiation examination consisting of collimated gamma scans of the irradiation capsules to confirm burnup estimates and estimate fission gas release (FGR) are also presented. It is concluded that the vibropacked fuel samples' FGR is below 1%, and that is within the predictable range by a specially equipped FRAPCON model.