Antares Nuclear, Inc.announced Thursday that its Mark-0 microreactor achieved criticality at Idaho National Laboratory, becoming the first advanced reactor to reach the milestone under a U.S.
Department of Energy pilot program established after President Donald Trump's 2025 executive order aimed at accelerating nuclear development.The Torrance, California-based company said the reactor reached initial criticality under DOE authorization, making Antares the first private company to bring an advanced reactor to criticality through the Department of Energy's Reactor Pilot Program."Hitting our commitments is everything to us.Nuclear in America has been defined for too long by delays, by companies that said they would and then didn't," Antares CEO Jordan Bramble said.
"We said criticality in 2026, electricity production in 2027, and power to the warfighter in 2028.Today is the first of those commitments delivered on the schedule we set."Criticality occurs when a reactor achieves a self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction, a major milestone in reactor development.
Antares said the demonstration validated key reactor physics parameters and produced testing data and control system performance information that will support future reactor development.NEWT GINGRICH, JASON HAYES: THERE'S A NUCLEAR SOLUTION TO RECHARGING AMERICAN INDUSTRYEnergy Secretary Chris Wright said Antares Nuclear's Mark-0 microreactor became the first privately developed non-light-water reactor to achieve criticality in the U.S.in more than four decades under the Department of Energy's Reactor Pilot Program.
(F.Carter Smith/Bloomberg)The Department of Energy confirmed the achievement Thursday, describing it as the first privately developed non-light-water reactor to reach criticality in the U.S.
in more than four decades."Today’s achievement is a historic moment for American nuclear energy," Energy Secretary Chris Wright said in a statement."By bringing the first American non-light water privately ...