“The Energy Department's new Reactor Pilot Program will expedite testing of advanced nuclear reactor designs under DOE authority, outside the national laboratories and without NRC licensing, "ensuring at least three reactors achieve criticality by July 4, 2026."”

Chris WrightThought Leader

U.S. Secretary of Energy

The target was met: Antares Nuclear's Mark-0 went critical in early June 2026, Valar Atomics' Ward 250 on June 22, and Deployable Energy's Unity in the final days of June, with Aalo Atomics' Aalo-X adding a fourth on July 4 itself. Caveats: these were zero- or very low-power test-reactor demonstrations (Valar reached about 10 kWt), and several were sited at Idaho National Laboratory rather than fully off-lab.