Modular military nuclear reactor test

Posted: 26th February 2026

Made by Valar Atomics based in Hawthorne, California Cautionary article here:
https://utahnewsdispatch.com/2025/07/07/valar-atomics-looking-to-develop-nuclear-energy-in-utah/

From Valar Attomics—
“Four executive orders gave Valar a mandate to test our reactor. We’re partnering with the Department of Energy, San Rafael Energy Research Center and the State of Utah to go live before America’s 250th birthday on July 4th, 2026.
Our future—from AI to interplanetary colonization—requires energy at an unprecedented scale and density. This is the dawn of a new atomic age.”

https://www.npr.org/2026/02/21/nx-s1-5721761/us-military-airlifts-small-reactor

“Today is history. A multi-megawatt, next-generation nuclear power plant is loaded in the C-17 behind us,” Wright said before the two-hour flight from March Air Reserve Base in California to Hill Air Force base in Utah.
The minivan-sized reactor transported by the military is one of at least three that will reach “criticality” — when a nuclear reaction can sustain an ongoing series of reactions — by July 4, as Trump has promised, Wright said.

“That’s speed, that’s innovation, that’s the start of a nuclear renaissance,” he said.
The reactor transported to Utah will be able to generate up to 5 megawatts of electricity, enough to power 5,000 homes, said Isaiah Taylor, CEO of Valar Atomics, the California startup that produced the reactor. The company hopes to start selling power on a test basis next year and become fully commercial in 2028.
The microreactor flown to Utah will be sent to the Utah San Rafael Energy Lab for testing and evaluation, Wright said. Fuel will be provided by the Nevada National Security site, Taylor said.

“The answer to energy is always more,” Wright said. After four years of restrictions on more polluting forms of energy under the Biden administration, he said, “now we’re trying to set everything free. And nuclear will be flying soon.”

TechCrunch
Valar Atomics comes out of stealth with $19M and a pilot reactor site Mike Butcher
3:40 AM PST · February 20, 2025

“Valar’s co-founder and CEO, Isaiah Taylor, told TechCrunch that the constraint on building reactors isn’t the technology as much as how it’s deployed. He hopes Valar’s “gigafactory” approach could fix that by being “industrial” instead of “artisanal.”
The company plans to build hundreds of SMRs at predominantly off-grid sites to power data centers and industrial plants. It has an initial contract with the Philippines Nuclear Research Institute to build a reactor in the country. Under the contract, Valar plans to pilot a test-scale reactor, and build two full-scale reactors before the first integrated reactor comes online.
“We’re going to make the first one, the second one, the third one, and that will organically evolve into a factory,” he said.
Taylor, whose grandfather was, coincidentally, a nuclear physicist on the Manhattan Project, dropped out of high school at 16, and went on to study software systems as well as found startups. The company’s technical efforts are led by its chief nuclear officer, Mark Mitchell (the former president of modular reactor firm Ultra Safe Nuclear Corporation [USNC]), and leader of the world’s first small modular reactor project at South Africa’s Pebble Bed Modular Reactor).
The startup’s team also has several folks from USNC, including its head of mechanical engineering, Willem van Rooyen. “

On 2026-02-23 12:32, Robert Anderson wrote:

https://abqjournal-nm.newsmemory.com/?publink=388396779_1351fa2

ALBUQUERQUE JOURNAL

MILITARY AIRLIFTS REACTOR AS TRUMP PUSHES FOR NUCLEAR POWER

HILL AIR FORCE BASE, Utah — The Pentagon and the Energy Department for 
the first time airlifted a small nuclear reactor from California to 
Utah, demonstrating what they say is the U.S. potential to quickly 
deploy nuclear power for military and civilian use.

The nearly 700-mile flight last weekend — which transported a 
5-megawatt microreactor without nuclear fuel — highlights the Trump 
administration’s drive to promote nuclear energy to help meet 
skyrocketing demand for power from artificial intelligence and data 
centers, as well as for use by the military.

Energy Secretary Chris Wright and Undersecretary of Defense Michael 
Duffey, who traveled with the privately built reactor, hailed the Feb.
15 trip on a C-17 military aircraft as a breakthrough for U.S. efforts 
to fast-track commercial licensing for the microreactors, part of a 
broader effort by the Trump administration to reshape the country’s 
energy landscape.