High-Temperature Gas Reactors

  • Airmen assigned to the 452nd Logistics Readiness Squadron Aerial Port Flight support loading operations of the Valar Atomics Ward 250 reactor onto a C-17 Globemaster III at March Air Reserve Base, Calif., Feb. 15, 2026. The mission, called "Operation Windlord," marked the first military airlift of a microreactor and transported the Ward 250 to Hill Air Force Base, Utah, en route to the San Rafael Energy Lab test site. Courtesy: Valar Atomics
    advanced nuclear

    Valar Atomic’s Ward 250 Becomes Second Reactor to Go Critical Under DOE Pilot Program

    Valar Atomics has achieved self-sustaining criticality and completed zero-power testing at Ward 250, its Gen IV tri-structural isotropic (TRISO)-fueled modular high-temperature gas reactor (HTGR), at the Utah San Rafael Energy Lab in Emery County. The project is the second advanced reactor to go critical under the Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Reactor Pilot Program and the first DOE-authorized […]

  • Pele_Fuel_Prep_1_BWXT
    Nuclear

    A First for Military Nuclear Power: TRISO Fuel Arrives at Project Pele

    Project Pele, the Department of War’s (DOW’s) first-of-its-kind transportable nuclear microreactor prototype, has received its tri-structural isotropic (TRISO) particle fuel at Idaho National Laboratory (INL), where formal system testing is slated to begin as early as 2027. The fuel—manufactured by BWXT Technologies (BWXT) and shipped from its Lynchburg, Virginia, facility—represents the first TRISO microreactor fuel […]