Ampera completes full-scale silicon-carbide microreactor module designed for 30 years without refueling

Ampera has completed production of what it describes as the first full-scale 3D-printed nuclear reactor module, unveiling the unit this month at its innovation center in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. The module combines a silicon-carbide pressure vessel with a spherical, monolithic gyroid core. Ampera says its containerized microreactor is designed to operate for up to 30 years without refueling, using a proprietary TRISO fuel platform and advanced additive manufacturing. The company is developing subcritical, thorium-based microreactor systems.

This is a hardware-completion milestone, not an authorization to deploy: Ampera submitted a formal letter to the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission this winter expressing its desire to begin the pre-application process. The printed pressure vessel and gyroid core put additive manufacturing at the system-architecture level rather than in auxiliary tooling or a replacement part, making repeatability and inspection as relevant as the geometry itself. In April, Ampera entered a strategic collaboration with Monaco shipping company Scorpio Tankers to jointly make and commercialize advanced microreactors for shipping, marine, and related maritime applications.

The commercial test is now whether Ampera can convert this full-scale module into a reproducible factory process that satisfies the documentation and qualification demands implied by its regulatory path. The Scorpio collaboration provides a named maritime route, while Ampera has also identified defense, industrial facilities and data centers as intended power markets.