A nuclear startup just achieved criticality on its own reactor. The DOE's July 4 target is within reach.

Valar Atomics has become the first private nuclear startup to achieve criticality on its own reactor system, completing zero-power critical tests on its NOVA core with Los Alamos National Laboratory, and marking the second milestone under the DOE pilot program that set a target of three advanced reactors reaching criticality by July 4, 2026. The program, created by executive order in May, allows startups to test under DOE research authority rather than full NRC commercial licensing, which has historically been the main bottleneck for new entrants. Valar's 'Ward' microreactor has already been air-lifted by a US Air Force C-17 to Hill Air Force Base in Utah in February, and the company plans to start operations at 100kW before ramping to 250kW this year, with commercial sales targeted for 2027. With $130 million raised and a roadmap from microreactors to gigawatt-scale SMR clusters for data centres, Valar is one of several companies now making the AI-power thesis concrete rather than theoretical. The question for investors is whether the July 4 optics translate into a credible commercial licensing pathway, or whether DOE's research umbrella simply defers the harder NRC process.