Three startups are making significant strides in the nuclear energy sector as part of the Department of Energy’s initiative to celebrate the Fourth of July with a notable achievement in atomic energy advancements. These companies have successfully activated new reactor designs, contributing to what Energy Secretary Chris Wright has dubbed “America’s nuclear renaissance.” This initiative aims to foster the development and deployment of next-generation nuclear technology.
In addition to these early successes, other participants in the pilot program are on track to achieve criticality, the term used when a nuclear reactor maintains a self-sustaining chain reaction, shortly after the Independence Day celebrations. This progress aligns with a deadline established by President Donald Trump in an executive order from the previous year, emphasizing the administration’s commitment to advancing nuclear technology.
However, industry experts caution that while the achievements of these early-stage reactors are commendable, they are not yet commercial products but rather test reactors. Adam Stein, director of the Nuclear Energy Innovation program at the Breakthrough Institute, noted, “These prototypes mean everything and nothing. They do a lot for the companies reaching criticality, but even for those companies, they’re not commercial products.”
Historically, the landscape of American nuclear power has been dominated by large, light-water reactors that rely on water to transfer heat and facilitate nuclear reactions. The ambition to create smaller, innovative reactors has faced hurdles, including a slow-moving regulatory framework and substantial initial investments needed for development. Stein remarked that the perception of the nuclear industry being stagnant—characterized by the notion that a new reactor was always “10 years away”—is evolving. “The pilot program shows that’s not true, if you intentionally move faster. It changes the narrative, and it changes the perception. That means a lot for the investment community,” he added.
The push for smaller nuclear reactors, recognized for their potential to provide reliable, carbon-free energy for operations like data centers, has drawn the attention of a growing number of investors and tech leaders from Silicon Valley. Underlining this enthusiasm, the Trump administration has taken steps to expedite the regulatory process affecting smaller nuclear designs, with the executive order creating this pilot program having been issued in May 2025. This aggressive timeline focuses on achieving criticality in at least three reactors to coincide with the nation’s 250th anniversary on July 4.
Earlier this year, the Department of Energy implemented a series of regulatory relaxations concerning environmental and safety standards for the reactors under its purview, including those in the pilot program. Similar adjustments are currently under discussion at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which oversees commercial reactor approvals. Stein highlighted that these regulatory modifications, particularly those reducing the duration of environmental impact assessments, have provided “significant time savings” for participating companies.
The companies involved in the pilot program have not only benefited from regulatory relief but also from collaboration with federally funded national laboratories. For instance, Valar Atomics achieved criticality late last year at Los Alamos National Laboratory, utilizing a core alongside components supplied by the lab. The startup recently reiterated this achievement with a second reactor at a state lab in Utah. Other participants, such as Antares Nuclear and Deployable Energy, also reached criticality within national lab environments.
Matt Loszak, cofounder and CEO of Aalo Atomics, expressed gratitude for the government’s commitment to prioritizing new reactor development, facilitating rapid progress for his company, which is part of the pilot program and anticipates reaching criticality soon. This collaborative and accelerated approach potentially heralds a pioneering era for the nuclear industry, albeit with cautious optimism regarding the path ahead.
