Friday, 17 July 2026

Ampera Inc says it has finished making the first full-scale nuclear reactor module by 3D printing, according to World Nuclear News. The company showed its first module unit, which houses the core and pressure vessel, on July 1 at its innovation site in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida.

More than 100 people turned out for the reveal, among them local officials, business figures and staff, World Nuclear News reported.

The core uses a spherical monolithic gyroid design, printed from silicon carbide, and is built to run up to 30 years without refuelling, according to World Nuclear News. Ampera's systems are expected to deliver up to 30 MWe, with larger configurations planned.

Brian Matthews, Ampera's founder and chief executive, called the core and pressure vessel a base for factory-built nuclear modules.

The company took an earlier regulatory step in February, when it wrote to the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission to signal its intent to open the pre-application process for its factory-made, containerised microreactor.

Ampera followed in April with an agreement alongside Monaco-based Scorpio Tankers Inc to develop and commercialise advanced microreactors for marine, shipping and other maritime uses.

Holtec Nuclear Corporation publicly filed a Form S-1 registration statement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for a proposed initial public offering of its Class A common stock, according to a GlobeNewswire release from Holtec.

The company intends to list its Class A common stock on The Nasdaq Stock Market and Nasdaq Texas under the symbol HNUC.

J.P. Morgan, Guggenheim Securities, Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, and BofA Securities are acting as joint lead book-running managers for the proposed offering, according to Holtec.

Holtec said it owns and develops the SMR-300 advanced small modular reactor, which features passive safety systems. The company expects the first two units to be deployed at the company-owned Palisades site in Michigan.

Holtec is also refurbishing the Palisades nuclear power plant, which the company said would be the first commercial nuclear reactor in the United States to be repowered after a permanent shutdown.

Holtec's business profile includes ownership of nearly 220 granted patents, three U.S.-based manufacturing facilities for nuclear fabrication, and operations on five continents, according to the company. It has provided products and services to more than 150 nuclear reactors worldwide.

Operators at the Siberian Chemical Combine have commissioned a full-scale control room simulator for the lead-cooled fast neutron BREST-OD-300 reactor, letting crews train ahead of the unit's physical startup, according to World Nuclear News. The training rig sits at the site's education and information centre in Seversk, Tomsk Oblast, Russia.

The 300 MWe reactor is designated the main facility of the Pilot Demonstration Energy Complex on the combine's grounds, which fall under Rosatom's TVEL fuel division, World Nuclear News reported. Reactor construction started in June 2021.

Evgeny Adamov, scientific director of the Breakthrough project, said the reactor's design left no known equivalent simulators elsewhere, and described the rig as a technical tool for staff training and licensing. The build was carried out by JSC VNIIAES, part of Rosatom's electric power division, which has produced more than 40 simulators for Russian-designed power units.

The prototype main circulation pump is designed to move 11 tonnes of molten lead each second at temperatures above 420 degrees Celsius. A larger 1,200 MWe (2,800 MWt) design, the BR-1200, is slated to follow if the 300 MWe (700 MWt) unit proves out.