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.
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.