In May, a series of executive orders from the Trump administration signaled sweeping changes to nuclear power in the United States. Despite some bumps along the way—namely major upheavals to nuclear regulation—the nuclear industry does appear to be delivering progress “at speeds not seen since the Manhattan Project,” according to industry observers . Now, one of the newest players in nuclear energy claims to have taken a small but significant first step toward making those ambitions real.

California-based startup Valar Atomics announced that it had achieved zero-power criticality at 2:45 p.m. ET on November 17. Criticality refers to a stage for a nuclear reactor in which each fission event—the splitting of a heavyweight atom—releases enough neutrons to sustain chain reactions. T

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