Story perspectives

Deployable Energy, Aalo, Valar Reach Criticality, Power Nvidia Chip

7/5/2026

Summary

Valar Powers Chip

Deployable Energy, Aalo Atomics and Valar built a nuclear reactor that reached criticality within weeks.
Deployable Energy co-founder and executive Bobby Gallagher called the reactors a breakthrough.
Aalo Atomics co-founder and CEO Matt Loszak praised speeding his path to criticality.
Valar’s reactor powered an Nvidia chip in a demo, the first reactor to supply electricity.
Nuclear Regulatory Commission seeks licensing while rollout needs years, limiting DOE’s 400 GW goal by 2050.

Summary

Trump Sets Deadline

President Donald Trump’s May 2025 Executive Order 14301 set a July 4 2026 deadline for three reactors, which was met.
DOE’s Reactor Pilot Program and Nuclear Energy Launch Pad fund fast-track startups, letting them skip normal Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) licensing for tests.
Antares’s Mark-0 sodium-cooled TRISO reactor is being prepared for U.S. Army forward-operating bases.
The Fuel Line Pilot Program, launched August 2025, creates a domestic low-enriched uranium supply chain for the pilot reactors.

History

Historical Context

President Eisenhower opened the 60 MW Shippingport Atomic Power Station on May 26 1958, the United States’ first civilian reactor and a model for streamlined licensing. Decades of regulatory tightening slowed new builds, but the 2025-2026 projects of Deployable Energy, Aalo Atomics, Valar and the DOE’s Reactor Pilot Program now aim to fast-track small-modular reactors, echoing Shippingport’s path toward the DOE’s 400 GW 2050 goal.

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Valar Powers Chip

Deployable Energy, Aalo Atomics and Valar built a nuclear reactor that reached criticality within weeks.
Deployable Energy co-founder and executive Bobby Gallagher called the reactors a breakthrough.
Aalo Atomics co-founder and CEO Matt Loszak praised speeding his path to criticality.
Valar’s reactor powered an Nvidia chip in a demo, the first reactor to supply electricity.
Nuclear Regulatory Commission seeks licensing while rollout needs years, limiting DOE’s 400 GW goal by 2050.

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