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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.
Hunter Andrews, Supathorn Phongikaroon
Nuclear Technology | Volume 206 | Number 4 | April 2020 | Pages 651-661
Technical Note | doi.org/10.1080/00295450.2019.1670009
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Cyclic voltammetry (CV) was used to study SmCl3 at concentrations of 0.42 to 8.99 wt% in molten eutectic LiCl-KCl (44.2:55.8 wt%) at 773 K. For each sample, CV was repeated at different electrode surface areas to measure the peak current density. By analyzing the measured peak current density and concentration relationship with the Randles-Sevcik equation, the Sm(III) diffusivity for each sample was calculated. These diffusion coefficients ranged from 0.934 × 10−5 to 1.572 × 10−5 cm2‧s−1, showing no noticeable trend with a change in concentration. The samples were then divided into two groups of five. The first group was used to develop a calibration model for concentration prediction, while the second group was used to test and validate the model. The first model was based on the relationship between current density and concentration. This model had a very low limit of detection of 0.14 wt% and very low error as evaluated by the root-mean-square error of calibration of 0.108 wt%. The second model was a multivariate approach utilizing the current density values and laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) intensities as regressors; however, the introduction of LIBS data showed an increase in the model’s prediction error when compared to the first model. The electrode withdrawal method proved to be a preferable option due to a substantial increase in precision.