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.
Grégory Perret, Ivor David Clifford, Diego Mora Mendez
Nuclear Technology | Volume 211 | Number 12 | December 2025 | Pages 2929-2946
Research Article | doi.org/10.1080/00295450.2025.2521590
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Pressurized thermal shock following a loss-of-coolant accidental scenario has been recognized as a safety concern for the integrity of the reactor pressure vessel since the 1980s. In the context of the recent APAL (Advanced PTS Analysis for LTO) European project, the safety analysis, including coupled thermal hydraulics (TH) and fracture mechanics analyses, has been upgraded to include uncertainty quantification. This paper presents the results obtained by the Paul Scherrer Institute in which the TRACE and FAVOR codes were used. TH uncertainties were estimated and propagated in one-dimensional fracture mechanics models to yield a 95%/95% lower tolerance bound for the maximum allowable adjusted reference temperature. The results are compared for several scenarios (fracture type, fracture criteria, with and without residual stresses) with a conservative base case and a best-estimate case. A sensitivity analysis finally helped determine the most relevant TH uncertain parameters.