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Ampera and LLNL partner on advanced nuclear fuel. by Ship & Bunker News Team Thursday August 27, 2026 The partnership will focus on scalable thorium-based TRISO fuel for compact and subcritical nuclear reactor platforms. File image / Pixabay Energy technology firm Ampera has partnered with Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) to develop scalable advanced nuclear fuel for compact and subcritical reactor platforms, with potential applications in maritime. The collaboration will evaluate liquid-metal-jetting technology to produce highly uniform, spherical thorium-232 kernels for tri-structural isotropic (TRISO) fuel, the firms said in an emailed update on Wednesday. The work will include computational modelling, materials and nozzle testing, high-temperature process development and particle characterisation. The project builds on earlier LLNL research that developed a particle-production prototype using droplet-based liquid-metal jetting. The partners will also work on safe radiological handling and scalable process and design rules to support future commercialisation. Ampera said the partnership supports its strategy to establish a secure domestic thorium fuel supply chain. The company said developing in-house fuel production could help reduce costs and supply-chain risks. Ampera is developing a subcritical micronuclear reactor platform for data centres, defence, industrial and maritime applications. Its solid-state platform is designed to provide factory-built power systems capable of operating for up to 30 years without refuelling. Ship & Bunker News Team To contact the editor responsible for this story email Ship & Bunker at [email protected]

LLNL, Ampera partner to develop thorium-based TRISO fuel. TRISO particle fuel is fully encapsulated by layers of carbon- and ceramic-based materials that prevent the release of radioactive fission products. Each particle (roughly the size of a poppy seed) acts as its own containment system and is more resistant to neutron irradiation, corrosion, oxidation, and high temperatures than traditional reactor fuels. (Image: LLNL) Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory has formed a strategic partnership with Ampera to develop the company's nuclear fuel concept through a project named THUNDER, for Thorium Unimodal Droplet Ejection for Reactors. The focus of THUNDER is fabricating TRISO made with kernels of thorium rather than the usual uranium. LLNL and Ampera will evaluate and optimize liquid metal-jetting technology to produce highly uniform, spherical kernels of thorium-232 for later processing into TRISO fuel. Together, LLNL and Ampera intend to enable the "resilient, cost-effective and sustainable manufacturing" of TRISO particle fuel for use in advanced nuclear reactors, the company said. LLNL weighs in on thorium: Thorium offers potential advantages over uranium in nuclear fuel applications. As explained by LLNL, thorium "is abundant, produces a less persistent waste stream, and is more difficult to weaponize, adding a layer of proliferation resistance." Th-232 itself cannot sustain a fission chain reaction, but it decays into fissile uranium-233 when it absorbs a neutron, breeding its own fuel during operation, LLNL said. More about THUNDER: The THUNDER project builds on LLNL's research in advanced materials and manufacturing being led by research engineer and principal investigator Viktor Sukhotskiy. In a 2023 project called PowderJet, Sukhotskiy and his team created a new particle production prototype using "droplet-on-demand" liquid metal-jetting technology. Through this technology, highly spherical, size-controlled metallic particles can be produced. According to Sukhotskiy, "Working with Ampera gives us the opportunity to apply joint expertise to a challenging nuclear fuel problem while also continuing to mature liquid metal jetting as an advanced manufacturing technology. That combination, balanced with scientific progress, technology transition, and national security relevance, is what makes the collaboration so exciting." Ampera founder and CEO Brian Matthews noted that LLNL "has a long and distinguished record of translating advanced science into technologies of national importance. Developing a scalable domestic capability to manufacture advanced nuclear fuel is fundamental to Ampera's strategy. We believe this collaboration can accelerate the technical foundation required to vertically integrate our fuel supply, reduce cost and supply-chain risk, and support the deployment of our compact subcritical nuclear energy systems." Other news: The partnership with LLNL is the latest in a series of developments that Ampera has announced this summer. In June, the company announced that it had established a subsidiary in Australia to secure a thorium supply for its technology. In July, Ampera produced a full-scale, additively manufactured model of its nuclear core architecture - a spherical, monolithic gyroid structure that was 3D printed in silicon carbide. Ampera was founded in 2025 and is based in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.

LLNL's Kathryn Mohror named general chair of SC27. August 27, 2026 Press play to listen to this content Aug. 27, 2026 - Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory's (LLNL) Kathryn Mohror has been selected as general chair of the 2027 International Conference for High Performance Computing, Networking, Storage, and Analysis, more commonly known as SC27. Mohror is director of the Center for Applied Scientific Computing (CASC) as well as a Distinguished Member of Technical Staff. "Chairing this conference is not only an honor but also an opportunity to give back to the SC community that has been such a big part of my career," states Mohror. "I've been attending SC and volunteering for more than 20 years. I keep returning because this is where people share the latest, most impactful ideas in HPC and because the community is so collaborative and welcoming." Held annually in November, the SC conference hosted more than 17,000 exhibitors, researchers, and practitioners last year. The week-long event is jointly sponsored by the Association for Computing Machinery and the IEEE Computer Society, and is the world's largest conference for the high-performance computing (HPC) field. As general chair, Mohror will determine the conference's vision and lead its operations, working with about 1,000 volunteers and a cadre of contractors. For Mohror, leadership is service, and chairing SC comes with responsibilities beyond the logistics of organizing a large-scale conference. "HPC innovations are only possible because of the people who design them, build them, and find new ways to use them," she says. "SC is the place where many of these innovations are born - when people meet and start talking. I want everyone at SC to find opportunities to meet new people, build our community, and get talking to drive those new innovations." At a time when artificial intelligence (AI) and other emerging technologies are rapidly influencing the HPC landscape, SC continues to be the premier venue for showcasing research from all corners of the field - laboratories, academia, and industry. "SC is like no other HPC conference. People come from all over the world because SC is where everything in HPC happens," notes Mohror. "I love to see the convergence of traditional HPC, cloud computing, quantum computing, and AI communities at SC. HPC is stronger because we're leveraging ideas across fields and pushing the boundaries of what is possible." Although SC27 plans are still in progress, Mohror says attendees can expect a robust and dynamic technical program along with new community-focused initiatives and plenty of opportunities to connect with others. The theme and host city will be unveiled in a special session near the end of SC26 this November in Chicago. Mohror's appointment is another example of LLNL's ongoing visibility at SC - from research papers and posters to the Top500 list of benchmarked supercomputers, and from speakers at the Department of Energy's (DOE) exhibitor booth to dozens of staff volunteering on committees. LLNL leaders have held the SC general chair role before, most recently acting principal associate director for Computing Lori Diachin in 2025 and Livermore Computing chief technology officer Bronis de Supinski in 2021. "The SC27 general chair is a highly demanding and visible role. Kathryn has long been a trusted leader at LLNL and in the broader HPC community, and she is very well equipped to lead another successful meeting," says Diachin.hin. "From her start at LLNL as a postdoctoral researcher, Kathryn has consistently exceeded expectations, and I have no doubt she will do so as SC27 general chair," adds de Supinski, who will serve as SC27 vice chair. "I expect that not only will SC27 set an all-time attendance record, but it will establish new traditions that enhance the supercomputing community, as I know she envisions." Mohror joined LLNL in 2010. Her research focuses on HPC portability, input/output performance, and in-system storage solutions through projects such as the Scalable Checkpoint/Restart library and the UnifyFS file system, both R&D 100 Award winners. She has led major HPC standards and software initiatives, including roles on the PMIx Steering Committee, MPI Forum, and DOE's Exascale Computing Project. A 2019 DOE Early Career Award recipient, Mohror holds a Ph.D. in Computer Science from Portland State University. Scientists running large simulations can end up with terabytes of data that then has to... OpenAI, Anthropic, Microsoft, AWS and others have recently launched initiatives to help their customers adopt... Jensen Huang believes NVIDIA's chips are becoming much more than expensive pieces of hardware. As... It's time once again for HPC Career Notes, our monthly feature that's designed to keep... Over the past several days, a steady stream of Genesis Mission announcements has arrived from... For most attendees, ACM PEARC26 begins Sunday, July 26, at the Minneapolis Convention Center. For...