Aalo completes assembly of experimental reactor

Austin, Texas-based Aalo was named in August last year by the US Department of Energy (DOE) as one of 11 advanced reactor projects initially selected for support through its Nuclear Reactor Pilot Program, which aims to see at least three of them achieve criticality by 4 July this year. The initiative is part of the Reforming Nuclear Reactor Testing at the Department of Energy executive order signed by President Donald Trump in May.

Two weeks after being selected, the company broke ground on a plot of land at the border of Idaho National Laboratory (INL) to start construction of its first experimental extra modular nuclear reactor, the Aalo-X.

On Thursday, Aalo held a ceremony - attended by representatives from DOE, INL and supply chain partners, including Paragon Energy Solutions and Amsted Graphite - to unveil the completed reactor. Attendees toured the facility, viewing demonstrations of the control software and hardware, shielding systems, and the reactor itself.

_{(Image: Aalo Atomics)}

Aalo-X has been manufactured at Aalo's pilot factory in Austin, Texas, before being transported to and installed at the INL site. The test reactor is the precursor to the Aalo Pod, a 50 MWe XMR (Extra Modular Reactor) power plant purpose-built for data centres. Each fully modular Aalo Pod will contain five factory built, sodium-cooled, Aalo-1 reactors, using low-enriched uranium dioxide fuel. The company says it will be in commercial use by 2029.

In a post on X, Aalo cofounder and CEO Matt Loszak said the nuclear fuel for the Critical Test Reactor "will be arriving any day now". The company, which was founded in 2023, announced earlier this month that it had signed a fuel fabrication contract with Global Nuclear Fuel - a GE Vernova-led alliance with Hitachi Ltd and affiliate of GE Vernova Hitachi Nuclear Energy - for fuel to power Aalo-X.

Loszak noted that one step remains before the reactor can then be started up: "the final DOE approval to turn the reactor on, which we expect to receive soon".

_{(Image: Aalo Atomics)}

"Today, a completed reactor building stands there - constructed, equipped, and ready for operators to split atoms in the Critical Test Reactor," Aalo said. It added that is "isn't waiting for the deadline" of 4 July to achieve zero-power criticality, adding that it will "go critical in a matter of weeks". 

Aalo said: "Today we unveil the Critical Test Reactor, the first new nuclear reactor at INL in 50 years. Next, our company solves the engineering challenges of extra-modular nuclear reactors. Then, we will construct a massive reactor gigafactory, which will 'productise' the nuclear industry so that we can build reactors in a matter of days. Full-power deployment to customers will happen later this decade. The foundational bricks for that future are now laid."

The other companies selected by the DOE for support under the Nuclear Reactor Pilot Program are: Antares Nuclear Inc; Atomic Alchemy Inc; Deep Fission Inc; Last Energy Inc; Natura Resources LLC; Oklo Inc (selected for two projects); Radiant Industries Inc; Terrestrial Energy Inc; and Valar Atomics Inc.