--- title: Four nuclear reactors hit a big milestone in the US description: Four US microreactor companies — Antares Nuclear, Valar Atomics, Deployable Energy, and Aalo Atomics — achieved zero-power criticality ahead of a Trump... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/four-nuclear-reactors-hit-a-big-milestone-in-the-us-zut0qubz2 twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: Four nuclear reactors hit a big milestone in the US | daily.dev og:description: Four US microreactor companies — Antares Nuclear, Valar Atomics, Deployable Energy, and Aalo Atomics — achieved zero-power criticality ahead of a Trump... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/four-nuclear-reactors-hit-a-big-milestone-in-the-us-zut0qubz2 og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/zUt0quBz2.png og:image:alt: Four nuclear reactors hit a big milestone in the US og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Four nuclear reactors hit a big milestone in the US **[MIT Technology Review](https://daily.dev/sources/technologyreview)** · 5 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary Four US microreactor companies — Antares Nuclear, Valar Atomics, Deployable Energy, and Aalo Atomics — achieved zero-power criticality ahead of a Trump administration deadline tied to the nation's 250th birthday. All four were selected under the DOE's Reactor Pilot Program, which fast-tracks prototype development. However, zero-power criticality is a limited milestone: it confirms a sustained chain reaction is possible but produces no electricity and requires significant additional engineering work, including cooling systems. Companies are projecting commercial timelines of 2027–2028, though regulatory hurdles from the NRC remain uncertain. Some nuclear policy analysts argue the microreactor focus is a distraction from scaling up meaningful grid capacity. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [Pentagon selects three microreactor companies for Air Force bases as military nuclear programme advances toward 2030](https://daily.dev/posts/pentagon-selects-three-microreactor-companies-for-air-force-bases-as-military-nuclear-programme-adva-fnotlyet6) · The Next Web · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Antares raises $470mn for military nuclear microreactors](https://daily.dev/posts/antares-raises-470mn-for-military-nuclear-microreactors-z3dwcbreg) · The Next Web · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Microreactor startup Antares raises $96M for land, sea, and space-based nuclear power](https://daily.dev/posts/microreactor-startup-antares-raises-96m-for-land-sea-and-space-based-nuclear-power-b3loxqljq) · TechCrunch · 0 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#clean-energy](https://daily.dev/tags/clean-energy) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/four-nuclear-reactors-hit-a-big-milestone-in-the-us-zut0qubz2) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"Four nuclear reactors hit a big milestone in the US","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/four-nuclear-reactors-hit-a-big-milestone-in-the-us-zut0qubz2","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/four-nuclear-reactors-hit-a-big-milestone-in-the-us-zut0qubz2"},"datePublished":"2026-07-09T09:11:57.491Z","dateModified":"2026-07-09T09:12:18.855Z","description":"Four US microreactor companies — Antares Nuclear, Valar Atomics, Deployable Energy, and Aalo Atomics — achieved zero-power criticality ahead of a Trump...","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/ebc26d637c2cefe3f05da59ca53f7ac5?_a=AQAEuop","thumbnailUrl":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/ebc26d637c2cefe3f05da59ca53f7ac5?_a=AQAEuop","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"MIT Technology Review","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180}},"author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"MIT Technology Review","logo":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/t_logo,f_auto/v1/logos/a8d03889722f4f22b3986e0b395ff076","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/technologyreview"},"commentCount":0,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/four-nuclear-reactors-hit-a-big-milestone-in-the-us-zut0qubz2","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":0},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":0}],"keywords":"clean-energy","timeRequired":"PT5M"} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"MIT Technology Review","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/technologyreview"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Four nuclear reactors hit a big milestone in the US"}]} ```