Ampera develops a thorium fuel supply chain that spans from an Australian mine to the United States.

      **Summary:** Florida startup Ampera has launched an Australian subsidiary to secure a thorium supply for its advanced nuclear fuel program. The company intends to integrate vertically from mining to TRISO kernel production, although it currently lacks an operational reactor.

      Ampera, based in Florida, announced on Monday the creation of an Australian subsidiary to procure thorium for its advanced reactor program. Formed in February 2026, Ampera Australia Pty Ltd will focus on acquiring and importing thorium to the United States.

      This initiative is part of a broader strategy to vertically integrate the nuclear fuel supply chain. Ampera plans to obtain raw thorium from Australian sources, process it, and produce TRISO fuel kernels at its facility in Florida, managing all stages internally.

      **Why Thorium?**

      Thorium is estimated to be three to four times more plentiful in the Earth’s crust compared to uranium. It generates less long-lasting radioactive waste, is difficult to weaponize, and is more thermally efficient in certain reactor designs.

      Despite its benefits, thorium has not been used extensively as a commercial nuclear fuel. The global nuclear landscape is predominantly oriented around uranium, and no country has established a commercial thorium fuel supply chain. Ampera aims to create one from the ground up.

      **The Reactor**

      Ampera characterizes its technology as a factory-built, scalable, supercritical nuclear energy platform. The company holds over 60 patents related to nuclear fuel production, including specialized jetting technology for TRISO kernel fabrication.

      TRISO (tri-structural isotropic) particles are small fuel spheres encapsulated in several layers of carbon and ceramic, enabling them to endure extremely high temperatures without melting. This is the same fuel format utilized by X-Energy’s Xe-100 reactor, which successfully secured $1 billion in a Nasdaq IPO earlier this year to support AI data centers.

      **The Australian Connection**

      Australia possesses some of the largest thorium reserves in the world, largely as a byproduct of rare-earth mineral mining. In October 2025, the US and Australia established a framework for cooperation on critical mineral supplies, encompassing mining and processing of rare-earth elements.

      Ampera’s CEO, Brian Matthews, stated that the company’s approach is to "secure thorium directly at the source and vertically integrate the entire fuel value chain, from mineral supply through advanced fuel production.” The establishment of the Australian subsidiary marks the initial stage of this process.

      **The Context**

      This announcement coincides with growing interest in nuclear power driven by the AI sector. Data center operators have entered conditional off-take agreements for approximately 45 gigawatts of small modular reactor capacity, nearly double the available capacity from the previous year.

      Most of this pipeline is centered around uranium-fueled designs. Thorium reactors remain in the earlier development phases, and Ampera has not shared a timeline for its first operational unit. The company is currently in a pre-revenue and pre-reactor state, with short-term goals focused on TRISO kernel production rather than electricity generation.

      If Ampera successfully manufactures thorium TRISO fuel at a commercial level, it could provide reactor developers an alternative to the uranium supply chain, which is primarily controlled by Russia, Kazakhstan, and a few Western enrichment facilities. This represents a significant opportunity in a market where energy security and supply chain independence are becoming as crucial as cost per megawatt. However, the journey from 60 patents to a functioning fuel supply chain is lengthy and costly, potentially involving years and billions of dollars, rather than just announcements.