Xan Doane

photographer & substack writer

[Xan Doane @xandoane]

So crazy to see my photo of Aaron Bruno of @awolnation on Express News!

[Xan Doane @xandoane]

@sadgirlyboss AFTER NIGHTSHIFT she's a true inspiration

[Xan Doane @xandoane]

@doanecreative love youuu🕺

[Xan Doane @xandoane]

📸📸

[Isaiah Taylor - making nuclear reactors @isaiah_p_taylor]

I enjoyed taking Jemima from The Information around our first nuclear site and sharing more about Valar Atomics!

At Valar, we probably celebrate different things than most startups. A cold criticality means more to us than a billion-dollar MOU. Generating 100kW of actual power matters more than theoretical demand for 1GW. Getting a full, hardened reactor packaged onto a C-17 and flown with the Air Force matters more than another funding announcement.

To people outside the deep tech startup ecosystem, these can look like baby steps. Cold criticality was a baby step; that's why our goal for July 4th is to make power. But every important technology in history started with small first steps. The first transistor, the first rocket launch, the first computers all looked insignificant before they changed the world.

SMRs are still in their infancy, and infancy is measured in engineering milestones. You do not get to gigawatts without first proving watts. Cold criticality was one small step. Ward250 making first power will be another small step. Then another after that.

That’s how real technology development works. First physics, then engineering, then scale. Most people only notice once the compounding becomes impossible to ignore.

[Xan Doane @xandoane]

@Luca_oc1 @sadgirlyboss his redemption arc

[Xan Doane @xandoane]

@sadgirlyboss THIS made my day

[Xan Doane @xandoane]

@sadgirlyboss oh my gosh am I a woman in STEM?🥹

[Xan Doane @xandoane]

@sadgirlyboss elite combo

[Xan Doane @xandoane]

@sadgirlyboss WHOA

[Xan Doane @xandoane]

@sadgirlyboss thank you for ur dedication to academia🫡

[Xan Doane @xandoane]

@CWNazarian genuinely God’s providence🙂‍↕️🧡

[Xan Doane @xandoane]

📸📸 driving to work hoping to get a good pic and got so lucky that Valar was directly under a rainbow��

[Charlotte W. Nazarian @CWNazarian]

☢️ 🌈

[Xan Doane @xandoane]

@CWNazarian @reynoir_will @valaratomics HAHA frr

[Xan Doane @xandoane]

@CWNazarian @Luca_oc1 flashbacks to guarding the bonfire for 7 hours, peak chief of staff behavior

[Xan Doane @xandoane]

@sadgirlyboss i mean where else would they come from

[Xan Doane @xandoane]

📸🤸‍♀️

[Valar Atomics @valaratomics]

Today, the DOE accepted our Documented Safety Analysis (DSA) for the Ward250 Reactor.

The DSA is our final design approval, demonstrating that we have satisfied the DOE’s rigorous safety standards in engineering and construction.

Next, Readiness Review and power before July 4.

[Xan Doane @xandoane]

📸📸

[Charlotte W. Nazarian @CWNazarian]

was awesome to welcome these guys to @valaratomics and spend some time with them in the gundo!

[Xan Doane @xandoane]

@d1filipino like how did I learn on tiktok in 30 minutes and the actual cafes didn’t??

[sgb @sadgirlyboss]

this may be a hot take but i love when there’s turbulence on a flight

[Xan Doane @xandoane]

@sadgirlyboss literally rough landings are what I live for