I recently attended the grand opening of AMPERA, a next generation nuclear power company here in Palm Beach Gardens.
This event was in April – it was a very exciting moment, and a real sign of the potential for our area.
Table of Contents
A Major Employer
AMPERA is hiring 90 people this year, with a long term target of 2,500 jobs at its new global headquarters. A company of that size setting up shop here is a huge vote of confidence about the growth potential in Palm Beach County and its impact on the world as a result. They chose our region on purpose, and that matters for every business owner, recruiter, and professional in the area.
Noel Martinez, the President and CEO of the Palm Beach North Chamber of Commerce, summed it up well in the press release:
“Companies like AMPERA choosing Northern Palm Beach County for their global operations reinforce our vision of this region as Florida’s Prosperity Coast.”
What They Build
AMPERA is developing what it calls a subcritical thorium breeder micro-reactor. Each unit is designed to fit inside a standard 40 foot shipping container, so the whole system can be moved by truck, rail, ship, or military cargo aircraft. The container holds the reactor core, multilayered shielding, a heat exchanger, a turbine, and a generator. The design is meant to be safe, contained, and scalable.
AMPERA’s founder and CEO Brian Matthews put the scale of a single unit this way:
“The systems can power thousands of homes, 10,000 to 20,000 homes.”
The company is focused on three areas of power production:
- Data centers
- Maritime applications, like shipping and operations on the seas
- Defense capabilities, including forward deployed military bases
Because the reactors run on thorium, there is no refueling and no plutonium waste. That is a big part of why this technology feels different from what most people picture when they hear the word nuclear.
The Grand Opening
When you walked up to the event, there was a kiosk almost like a check-in at the airport that took your photo. They used an AI tool to turn those photos into two keepsakes. One showed me in a lab coat at the facility. The other was a fun one of me as Thor, with a nod to thorium. Every guest got a little business card holder with the images on either side, and we were emailed the digital versions too. It was a thoughtful touch for a grand opening.
The facility itself was massive, around 100,000 square feet across two buildings at the Gardens Innovation Center at PGA National Commerce Park. They filled the warehouse with mockups, including full size trailers with fake reactors inside so you could see what the real thing would look like. Those pieces were all 3D printed by a company the same founder started, which I thought was a cool bit of backstory.
Why I Care
My dad was a submarine commander and is a nuclear engineer, so nuclear power has been a topic around the diner table since childhood. I think a lot of people do not appreciate how safe nuclear really is. More people die from coal in a single year than have ever died from nuclear power, even if you include Chernobyl, Fukushima, and the bombs in World War II. There is a lot of unlocking available for humanity if we can get past the old prejudices.
AMPERA’s design leans into that safety story. As Brian Matthews explained:
“We don’t have a self-sustaining chain reaction. And if you don’t have a self-sustaining chain reaction, if you remove the power to neutron generators, the system can only shut down.”
That is a very different picture from the old image of runaway nuclear power.
The Team
AMPERA had Greg Brostowicz, their Vice President of Marketing and Communications. I first met Greg years ago when his PR firm was working on a local Marina expansion project and asked me to get involved as a recruiter. That is one of the many ways that showing up in the community opens doors, and it is what made this grand opening feel so personal.
What Comes Next
Between the hiring ramp, the focus on real world applications like data centers and maritime shipping, and the scale of what they are building under CEO Brian Matthews, this is going to be very big for our community. It starts to feel like the future they talked about back in the 60s is finally here.
You can read more about the opening in this WPTV coverage.
Conclusion
A company like AMPERA planting its flag in Palm Beach Gardens is a major win. They are bringing serious jobs, new technology, and real energy solutions to the region. For business owners, that kind of growth creates opportunity on every side.
If you are building your team and need help finding the right people in sales, management, legal, or administrative roles, reach out to me today.