A nuclear energy startup just teamed up with the most valuable chipmaker on the planet to build something that sounds like it belongs in a sci-fi novel: a data center powered by a microreactor in rural Utah.
Valar Atomics, founded in 2023, is partnering with Nvidia to develop a pilot data center in Emery County, Utah, powered by the company’s Ward 250 helium-cooled microreactor. The facility targets roughly 30 megawatts of output, enough to run a meaningful chunk of AI compute without pulling a single watt from the local grid.
What actually happened
The partnership, reported by Reuters and confirmed as of July 1, 2026, pairs Valar’s nuclear tech with Nvidia’s latest Blackwell AI chip architecture. During a demonstration event in July 2026, Nvidia’s Blackwell chips were successfully powered by Valar’s reactor.
Valar’s Ward 250 microreactor hit a critical milestone on March 31, 2026, achieving what’s called zero-power fueled criticality. In English: the reactor sustained a nuclear chain reaction for the first time under controlled conditions. It became the first US Department of Energy-authorized microreactor to do so outside a national laboratory.
