The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Reactor Pilot Program has proven to be highly successful, officially meeting President Trump’s mandate to authorize and achieve criticality for three advanced microreactors by July 4, 2026. This expedited initiative successfully bypassed traditional Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) processes by leveraging direct DOE safety authorization, accelerating testing and driving billions in new industry investment. Below are the three designs that have achieved it.

Antares Nuclear: Their Mark-0 reactor achieved criticality on June 4, 2026, becoming the first U.S. non-light-water reactor to do so in over 40 years.

Valar Atomics: Their Ward 250 microreactor achieved this milestone on June 18, 2026.

Deployable Energy: Their Unity reactor successfully reached criticality right before the deadline.