A revolution in energy: Ampera showed an unusual nuclear reactor

Nuclear technology startup Ampera has officially announced its first full-scale 3D-printed nuclear module. The development should provide autonomous power to data centers engaged in training artificial intelligence.

Development by Ampera

According to the company’s representatives, this is “the world’s first subcritical, solid-state, factory-made thorium nuclear reactor.” This device is the most important part of the overall energy architecture, which includes a specialized module for the utilization of waste heat.

Key characteristics and features of the technology

The main advantage of the novelty is the “factory” format: the module is assembled on production lines, which allows you to significantly speed up the creation and delivery of the device. This approach provides the possibility of serial production, reducing the total cost of equipment and simplifying transportation in conventional cargo containers.

Technical nuances of the design:

• Subcriticality: the reaction does not proceed independently, an external source of neutrons is required to support fission. This practically eliminates the risks of accidents and melting of the active zone.
• Solid execution: the absence of moving parts greatly simplifies maintenance and increases the durability of the system.
• Thorium fuel: chosen as the main resource, thorium is more accessible than uranium and safer in the context of non-proliferation of nuclear materials, since it is extremely difficult to create weapons based on it.
• Power: the design electric power of the module is 30 MW, which is achieved due to a closed turbine on supercritical CO2 (Brayton cycle).

Application scenarios

The modular architecture allows for flexible adaptation to the needs of customers. The turbine unit can be combined with a heat recovery module or traditional generators. In the future, such nodes can completely replace fossil fuel generation systems, reducing the carbon footprint of facilities.

Price and release prospects

At the moment, the specific market value of the device has not been announced. If you translate the assessment of potential costs, a project of this scale is estimated in other solutions to be in the hundreds of millions, but the “factory” approach should minimize these numbers in the long run. The company has not yet provided clear dates for the start of production or data on the successful production of the first electricity.

Should we wait for implementation

Despite the fact that the company has already shown a finished sample, it is at the stage of confirming the technologies. However, Ampera already claims a high readiness to deploy the solution for such areas as data centers for AI, enterprises of the military-industrial complex, industrial clusters and the maritime transport sector.