Pellet heat and mass transfer coefficients inside packed beds do not have definite deterministic values, but are stochastic quantities with a certain distribution. Here, a method is presented to incorporate the stochastic distribution of pellet properties in reactor design and operation models. The theory presented is illustrated with a number of examples. It is shown that pellet-scale statisti...

It has long been known that thorium-232 is a fertile radioactive material that can produce energy in nuclear reactors for conversion to electricity. Thorium-232 is well suited to a variety of reactor types including molten fluoride salt designs, heavy water CANDU configurations, and helium-cooled TRISO-

The Advanced High-Temperature Reactor is a new reactor concept that combines four existing technologies in a new way: (1) coated-particle graphite-matrix nuclear fuels (traditionally used for helium-cooled reactors), (2) Brayton power cycles, (3) passive safety systems and plant designs from liquid-metal-cooled fast reactors, and (4) low-pressure molten-salt coolants with boiling points far abo...

An objective of the Advanced Fuel Cycle Initiative in the United States is to develop technologies for transmutation of transuranic elements currently in spent light water reactor fuel. The advantages of fast-spectrum reactors, including accelerator-driven systems, are recognised. Because low-to-zero conversion-ratio designs are desired, fuels with little or no fertile uranium are required. Bas...