Reactors & SMRs
The small modular reactor pipeline and the nuclear-for-AI offtake deals reshaping forward uranium demand.
The advanced-reactor race
In May 2025, Executive Order 14301 set the US government's most aggressive nuclear deadline in decades: at least three test reactors critical under DOE authorization by July 4, 2026. Four designs made it, and a fifth — the first on private land — followed in August. These are the first new-design criticalities outside the traditional licensing route in the modern era. This chart tracks every project in the program up the same five-rung ladder, from selection to first fission.
Critical in the DOE race
5
Criticality wave
62 days
First fission
Jun 4, 2026
Projects tracked
14
1. Selected
Picked into the DOE program — the starting line, not an approval.
2. Site & build
Physical progress: ground broken, or the reactor delivered to its test site.
3. Safety approval
DOE signed off the safety case (PDSA/NSDA) — the gate before fuel handling.
4. Fuel
Real uranium enters the story: fuel fabricated or delivered to the site.
5. Criticality
First self-sustaining chain reaction — the finish line here, but a test milestone, not commercial power.
Gone critical
Still racing
Critical at the labs — outside the race
Zero-power criticalities at NNSA's NCERC via the national-lab route; not part of the DOE pilot program's numbered series.
How to read it: each lane is one project; dots mark its dated, source-linked milestones, and the gold ring is criticality. A lane with only a gray dot means the project has published no dated milestone since selection — silence is data too. Dates known only to the month are plotted mid-month and shown without a day. Criticality here is a fueled test milestone under DOE authorization — commercial power still requires NRC licensing. The last section tracks designs that went critical at the national labs instead (zero-power tests at NNSA's NCERC); they carry no ordinal and don't move the race stats. Why it matters for uranium: these are the designs behind the nuclear-for-AI deal book, and every one that works its way up this ladder converts announced megawatts into real fuel demand.
Full milestone log with sources (35 events)
Antares Nuclear — Mark-0 · Sodium heat-pipe-cooled microreactor, HALEU TRISO fuel · Idaho National Laboratory (MFC-793)
- Aug 12, 2025 [Selected] Selected in the DOE Reactor Pilot Program's initial 11 projects (DOE announcement)
- Oct 2025 [Fuel] TRISO fuel fabrication began; DOE HALEU commitment in hand (ANS Nuclear Newswire)
- Jun 4, 2026 [Criticality] Mark-0 zero-power criticality at INL — first reactor under the program (DOE announcement)
Valar Atomics — Ward 250 · Helium-cooled, graphite-moderated HTGR, TRISO fuel · Utah San Rafael Energy Lab, Emery County
- Aug 12, 2025 [Selected] Selected in the DOE Reactor Pilot Program's initial 11 projects (DOE announcement)
- Sep 2025 [Site & build] Broke ground at the Utah San Rafael Energy Lab (ANS Nuclear Newswire)
- Feb 2026 [Site & build] Ward 250 flown from California to Utah by US Air Force cargo plane (POWER Magazine)
- Jun 18, 2026 [Criticality] Ward 250 fueled criticality — second under the program, first DOE-authorized reactor outside the national-lab system (DOE announcement)
Deployable Energy — Unity · 1-MWe water-moderated, gas-cooled nuclear battery · Idaho National Laboratory (NRIC)
- Apr 27, 2026 [Selected] Advanced into NRIC's Nuclear Energy Launch Pad (ANS Nuclear Newswire)
- Jul 1, 2026 [Criticality] Unity zero-power criticality at INL — third DOE-authorized criticality, meeting the EO 14301 goal (DOE announcement)
Aalo Atomics — Aalo-X · Sodium-cooled test reactor (Aalo-1 design, LEU oxide fuel) · Idaho National Laboratory
- Aug 12, 2025 [Selected] Selected in the DOE Reactor Pilot Program's initial 11 projects (DOE announcement)
- Aug 2025 [Site & build] Broke ground at Idaho National Laboratory (ANS Nuclear Newswire)
- Jul 4, 2026 [Criticality] Aalo-X criticality at 12:20 a.m. MT on July 4 — fourth DOE-authorized criticality (ANS Nuclear Newswire)
Oklo Isotopes (Atomic Alchemy) — Groves · Low-power water-cooled isotope test reactor · Lockhart, Texas
- Aug 12, 2025 [Selected] Selected in the DOE Reactor Pilot Program's initial 11 projects (DOE announcement)
- Jul 2026 [Safety approval] DOE approved the Groves Documented Safety Analysis, clearing fuel handling (ANS Nuclear Newswire)
- Aug 5, 2026 [Criticality] Groves criticality at 9:19 p.m. ET — fifth DOE-authorized criticality and the first on private land; built in 229 days (DOE announcement)
Oklo — Aurora-INL · Liquid-metal-cooled fast reactor, metal HALEU fuel · Idaho National Laboratory
- Aug 12, 2025 [Selected] Selected in the DOE Reactor Pilot Program's initial 11 projects (DOE announcement)
- Sep 2025 [Site & build] Broke ground on Aurora-INL (ANS Nuclear Newswire)
- Nov 11, 2025 [Safety approval] Nuclear Safety Design Agreement approved for Aurora fuel fabrication (ANS Nuclear Newswire)
- Jun 11, 2026 [Safety approval] PDSA approved for Aurora-INL (ANS Nuclear Newswire)
Radiant Industries — Kaleidos · 1-MWe helium-cooled microreactor, HALEU TRISO fuel · Idaho National Laboratory (DOME)
- Aug 12, 2025 [Selected] Selected in the DOE Reactor Pilot Program's initial 11 projects (DOE announcement)
- Feb 2026 [Safety approval] DOE approved the Kaleidos Preliminary Documented Safety Analysis (Radiant Nuclear)
- Jul 1, 2026 [Fuel] First TRISO fuel received at INL's DOME facility ahead of a full-power, full-temperature test (Radiant Nuclear)
Terrestrial Energy — Project Tetra · Integral molten-salt reactor test program · Texas A&M RELLIS campus
- Aug 12, 2025 [Selected] Selected in the DOE Reactor Pilot Program's initial 11 projects (DOE announcement)
- Jan 2026 [Selected] Other Transaction Agreement executed with DOE (ANS Nuclear Newswire)
- Jun 2026 [Site & build] Ground lease signed at the Texas A&M RELLIS campus (ANS Nuclear Newswire)
Last Energy — PWR-5 · Scaled PWR prototype (of the 20-MWe PWR-20) · Texas A&M RELLIS campus
- Aug 12, 2025 [Selected] Selected in the DOE Reactor Pilot Program's initial 11 projects (DOE announcement)
- Oct 2025 [Site & build] Land lease signed at the Texas A&M RELLIS campus (ANS Nuclear Newswire)
- May 2026 [Safety approval] PDSA approved; pilot building complete, final DSA submitted for DOE review (ANS Nuclear Newswire)
Natura Resources — Natura MSR · Molten-salt research reactor (with Abilene Christian University) · Abilene, Texas
- Aug 12, 2025 [Selected] Selected in the DOE Reactor Pilot Program's initial 11 projects (DOE announcement)
- Dec 2025 [Selected] Other Transaction Agreement executed with DOE (ANS Nuclear Newswire)
Oklo — Pluto · Plutonium-fueled fast test reactor (fuel & component development) · TBD
- Aug 12, 2025 [Selected] Selected as one of Oklo's projects in the DOE Reactor Pilot Program (Oklo announcement)
- Dec 2025 [Fuel] Plutonium fast-spectrum critical experiments with Los Alamos at NCERC (fuel/design development, at a national-lab facility) (Oklo announcement)
Westinghouse — eVinci · 5-MWe heat-pipe-cooled microreactor, HALEU TRISO fuel, graphite core · NCERC, Nevada National Security Site
- Aug 24, 2026 [Criticality] eVinci zero-power criticality at NCERC (10:39 a.m. PT), validating core design models with Los Alamos and Idaho National Labs — national-lab route, outside the pilot program's numbered series (Westinghouse announcement)
Los Alamos National Laboratory — ZiaCore · Heat-pipe-cooled microreactor, LEU oxide fuel, zirconium-hydride moderator · NCERC, Nevada National Security Site
- May 2026 [Criticality] ZiaCore zero-power criticality demonstrated at NCERC over a four-week April–May campaign (announced Jul 30) — LANL's LDRD-funded design, national-lab route (LANL announcement)
Deep Fission — Gravity · 15-MWe deep-borehole PWR (DFBR-1 design) · TBD (mile-deep borehole)
- Aug 12, 2025 [Selected] Selected in the DOE Reactor Pilot Program's initial 11 projects (DOE announcement)
DOE selected 11 projects (10 companies) on 2025-08-12 under EO 14301's Reactor Pilot Program; the DOE authorization pathway lets test reactors operate outside the national-laboratory licensing route. Deployable Energy joined via NRIC's Nuclear Energy Launch Pad and is counted by DOE toward the July 4 goal. Five designs have reached criticality: four between 2026-06-04 and the 2026-07-04 deadline, and Oklo Isotopes' Groves — the first on private land — on 2026-08-05. Adjacent to the race, two more designs reached zero-power criticality at NNSA's NCERC via the national-lab route: LANL's ZiaCore (April–May 2026) and Westinghouse's eVinci (2026-08-24); neither is in the program's numbered series.
RealWhat each licensing milestone means → DOE test authorizations vs NRC licenses, and which milestones move fuel demand. Interpret microreactor milestones →
Tracked projects
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Under construction
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In development
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Pipeline capacity
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Hyperscaler-backed
…
| Project | Developer | MWe | Status | Offtaker | Target | Latest milestone |
|---|
Curated from public filings, company PRs, DOE/NRC announcements and the WNA. A tracker — figures are point-in-time.
RealFuel requirements by design → Which of these reactors run on standard LEU and which wait on HALEU, with sourced assays.
Forward U₃O₈ Demand Model
Bottom-up demand built from the reactor fleet, the construction pipeline and SMR projects — vs. a reference supply baseline.
demand
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2030 demand
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2035 demand
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2035 deficit
…
Methodology: 1 GWe ≈ 170 tU/yr (~85% capacity factor); 1 tU ≈ 0.0026 Mlbs U₃O₈. Sources: WNA / IAEA PRIS fleet + the curated SMR pipeline. The forward curve is a model, not a quote.
How the uranium-demand model works → First cores, reloads and the assumptions behind the tU-per-GWe figures above.
Free report: The AI-Nuclear Uranium Demand Report
Every announced nuclear-for-datacenter deal, converted into modeled pounds of uranium — the demand wave, quantified.
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Yellowcake Analytics. "Nuclear Reactors & SMR Pipeline Tracker." Yellowcake Analytics, 2026, https://www.yellowcakeanalytics.com/reactors.
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