AALO ATOMICS ACHIEVES CRITICALITY MILESTONE; MEETS EXECUTIVE ORDER GOAL
From Founding to Fission in Less than Three Years, Aalo on Track to Become the Preeminent Nuclear Power Source for Modern AI Data Centers.
AUSTIN, Texas, July 6, 2026 – Aalo Atomics, the company building fully modular nuclear plants to power modern AI data centers, demonstrated criticality for its Aalo-X Critical Test Reactor in the early morning hours of July 4, 2026 at Idaho National Labs (INL), meeting President Trump’s July 4th goal for companies in the U.S. Department of Energy’s Reactor Pilot Program. Criticality, which marks the first self-sustaining chain reaction within a nuclear fission reactor, was achieved under Department of Energy (DOE) authorization.
“Reaching criticality is our most significant milestone to date, as it paves the way for the deployment of the Aalo Pod to power commercial data centers once it receives authorization from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission,” said Matt Loszak, CEO, Aalo Atomics. “More importantly, the Aalo-X Critical Test Reactor has the same full-scale core components as our commercial reactors. The Aalo-X’s 10 MWe reactor design positions it as the premier power provider for the modern data center.”
“Last month I toured the Aalo facility at Idaho National Laboratory and was impressed by the company’s determination to successfully demonstrate their technology by the Fourth of July,” said U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright. “President Trump asked for three advanced reactors to be authorized and achieve criticality before the 250th anniversary of our great country. I’m pleased to share that through the dedication and hard work of Aalo, INL and DOE, we have surpassed that ask and delivered four!”
Underscoring Aalo’s commitment to meeting the power needs of today’s data centers, the company has already begun work on its second nuclear reactor (located next to the Aalo-X test reactor at INL) for Project Ascension, testing acommercial-scale system that will produce electricity and power for an on-site data center in the coming months. In addition, Aalo recently announced a collaboration with Microsoft and Nvidia to lay the groundwork for an automated co-piloting system that could transform how a fleet of nuclear reactors operates safely.
“Aalo has demonstrated unprecedented speed, as well as a commitment to quality and safety, in bringing its first nuclear reactor to life, but now is not the time for rest,” said Yasir Arafat, President & CTO, Aalo Atomics. “Criticality is just the beginning. In the coming months we will continue building and testing multiple reactors, including the commercial Aalo Pod design which in the next 18 months will provide a scalable and affordable power option to data centers and enterprises.”
Fuel rods for the Critical Test Reactor were fabricated by GE Vernova’s nuclear fuel business, Global Nuclear Fuel (GNF), and delivered to the site in early April. Once Aalo completed its Readiness Assessment and Secretary of Energy Chris Wright signed the final approval to load fuel, Aalo was able to “flip the switch” and achieve criticality. Aalo’s celebration was intentionally reminiscent of Chicago Pile-1 (CP-1), the first self-sustaining, controlled nuclear chain reaction that occurred 84 years ago on December 2, 1942. CP-1 represents the birth of nuclear reactors, and today INL is the leading U.S. site for developing and testing them.
Aalo will be holding a commemorative event to celebrate its criticality milestone in Idaho Falls on July 30, 2026.
BREAKING: FAA officially announced the rulemaking to legalize supersonic flight, including the Boomless Cruise ("Mach cutoff") approach we demonstrated on XB-1.
This is a major step toward the supersonic renaissance.
As we come down the cost curve with nuclear, we'll unlock more and more markets:
➡️ 12-15 ¢/kWh:
- AI data centers
- Remote industry (mining, oil & gas)
- Military / islanded bases
➡️ 7-10 ¢/kWh:
- Small municipal utilities
- Heavy industry & process heat
- Major desalination projects
- Developing nations at scale
➡️ 3 ¢/kWh:
- Everyone; holy-grail energy product
- Water cost drops dramatically. Inland desal + pumping becomes viable
- Agriculture + megacity water security unlocked
- Steel (DRI + electric)
- Cement (full thermal substitution)
- Synthetic fuels (e-fuels, ammonia)
- Hydrogen at scale (electrolysis becomes cheap)
- No grid buildout required first, full islanded mode possible
- Industrialization accelerates massively
- Guilt-free energy abundance
- Large-scale carbon removal if desired
- Atmospheric water generation
- Vertical farming at scale
- Energy-intensive compute everywhere desired
It's a good thing there's enough nuclear fuel to last us 4 billion years...
Aalo has received DSA approval from DOE for our 10 MW reactor, zero-power criticality!
This is the equivalent of an NRC license in DOE space. We've been working towards this milestone at Aalo for 2.5 years.
This was a very ambitious project under the DOE reactor pilot program for a bunch of reasons:
➡️ 10 MW, commercial-scale system.
This is a system with the full-scale amount of fuel, moderator, controls, etc, necessary for powering AI data centers. Proving out this supply chain is a big deal. In the coming weeks we'll be taking it to zero power criticality, and then going to full-power operation in the months that follow. We'll be getting the factory set up in parallel to mass-produce it.
➡️ Built everything ourselves, from scratch.
We started with a green field, and within 4 months finished the building, facilities, policies & procedures, reactor, shielding, instrumentation, control, etc. People thought this would be impossible to do on this timeline for a reactor of this size, but we've done it. Hyperscalers care about speed, and we're showing that moving fast is possible at commercial scale.
➡️ Achieving criticality before July 4th.
We set out to ensure we met the president's order, and we are on pace to do so. We only started hiring at Aalo 2.5 yrs ago. It was questionable how realistic it was to take on all of the above while being one of the younger nuclear companies, but we are on track to pull it off.
Insanely proud of the team for all the hard work, nights and weekends that went into this.
Full blog post will be linked in comments.
Teams from across the country gather once again ahead of the @PGAChampionship. Welcome to the 10th Annual @PGAHOPE Secretary’s Cup presented by @AmericanAir — see who’s making the journey: https://t.co/Ubj93MxN7j
I’m not a social media guy, I don’t have all the followers in the world so perhaps this post goes unnoticed. I hope it doesn’t because this post isn’t for me; it is for my wife and my hero, Taylor. She is the Manager of the Ralphie Live Mascot Program @CUBuffsRalphie a 🧵 1/8
I love this company. I believe in Aalo because I believe in nuclear power. The technology that Aalo is putting in place is an absolute game changer.
Congratulations on the successful round of fundraising. Way to go @AaloAtomics, @MattLoszak and team!
Beyond excited to announce Aalo’s $100M Series B, led by Valor Equity Partners.
We now have the capital to build our first nuclear power plant, the Aalo-X, which we’re aiming to turn on *next summer*.
Here's our plan: 🧵
Buffs season is over. And Trevor Baskin couldn't hold back the tears. From Arvada, Pomona HS, Colorado Mesa. And finishing off his college career with @CUBuffsMBB. This is sports. Thrill of victory. Agony of defeat. Hold your head high Trevor. You did good.
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