On July 4, 2026 at 12:20 a.m. MT, we brought a commercial-scale advanced reactor to criticality, surpassing the president’s goal of at least three criticalities by July 4.
Our Critical Test Reactor (CTR) went from groundbreaking to a sustained chain reaction in less than eight months—one of the fastest reactor builds in 80 years—and our company has gone from founding to fission in less than three years. The CTR includes a full-scale core, demonstrating the nuclear components of our 10 MWe reactors, which will be deployed in 50 MWe Aalo Pods to power AI data centers.
We took on the largest scope within the Reactor Pilot Program: we built, licensed, and operated the reactor facility from scratch. We stood up our own safety programs, built 10 MW worth of fuel assemblies, and manufactured and quality-controlled commercial scale systems in-house.
This strategy puts us on the fastest, most de-risked path to commercial deployment:
1) Full scale zero-power reactor
2) Full scale 10 MWe power reactor
3) Commercial Pods deployed to power data centers
We have already begun work on our second nuclear reactor for Project Ascension, a commercial-scale system located on the Aalo-X Campus at INL. The new reactor will produce 10 MWe of electricity and power an on-site data center in 2027.
Criticality has validated our supply chain, reactor physics, control systems, and fueling procedures at commercial scale. We are now expanding into a one-million square-foot factory to apply assembly-line manufacturing to reactor production, which will open the door to mass-producing the Aalo Pod, our fully modular nuclear plant purpose-built for AI data centers.
The milestone was celebrated at a private, livestreamed event attended by our team, partners, and investors. We will make the full livestream (~5 hours leading into criticality) available to the public this week.
The reactor was turned on under Executive Order 14301, signed in May 2025, which called for at least three advanced reactors to reach criticality by July 4, 2026. "Four by the 4th" is now a reality: Aalo has answered the country's call and surpassed the President's order.
This milestone would not have been possible without the leadership of President Trump, Secretary of Energy Wright, DOE Office of Nuclear Energy, DOE Idaho Operations Office, and INL. We are grateful for their support and look forward to continuing the charge toward commercialization.
Our mission starts by powering the data center industry with the Aalo Pod. But the goal is unlocking energy abundance at civilizational scale. Criticality is just the beginning.
To join our team or learn more, visit our website: https://aalo.com
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