WHAT JUST HAPPENED? The Trump administration has reported that a new experimental nuclear reactor has reached criticality – the point at which it sustains a controlled nuclear chain reaction. That makes three advanced test reactors backed by the Energy Department that have now hit this key operating milestone. The program is aimed at next-generation nuclear technology that could serve high-demand power uses such as data centers.
Unity, a microreactor from Houston-based Deployable Energy, is the latest of the three to reach criticality as part of a Department of Energy effort to accelerate advanced nuclear demonstrations. A reactor from Torrance-based Antares and another from El Segundo-based Valar Atomics cleared the same hurdle in June.
All three are far smaller than traditional nuclear plants. They are being used to test new reactor designs and fuels that industry hopes will be easier and cheaper to deploy than today's large reactors, which provide roughly one-fifth of US electricity.
The Energy Department has given Antares and Deployable access to its laboratories and overseen detailed safety reviews for their demonstration units. It also provided the final authorization that allowed the reactors to go critical. Bobby Gallagher, CEO and co-founder of Deployable, said meeting the criticality benchmark would not have been possible "without the firm dedication of the DOE for safety, quality and speed" or without support from staff at Idaho National Laboratory, where Unity is being tested.
