Austin, Texas-based Aalo Atomics unveiled its completed reactor building of its critical test reactor at the Department of Energy’s Idaho National Laboratory.
Aalo held a March 19 ceremony for the finished reactor building on March 19, according to a company press release. The company said it completed the reactor structure in six months and expects to hit DOE’s reactor pilot program criticality deadline before July 4.
DOE plans to have at least three test reactors reach criticality by then.
The nuclear startup, founded in 2023, was one of 10 companies selected under the reactor pilot program. The company is also one of four companies that have also had their preliminary design safety analysis approved by DOE.
Matt Loszak, Aalo co-founder and CEO, said in a LinkedIn post that the company is one step away from reaching criticality as it awaits DOE approval to turn on the demonstration reactor.
Aalo’s announcement came on the same day DOE Assistant Secretary of Nuclear Energy Ted Garrish told a Senate committee that three to four pilot reactors could hit criticality by the July deadline.
“Six months ago, the company held a groundbreaking ceremony on a plot of land at the border of Idaho National Laboratory, Aalo said. “It was, by every measure, a bare dirt field. Today, a completed reactor building stands there—constructed, equipped, and ready for operators to split atoms in the Critical Test Reactor.”
Aalo is developing its demonstration reactor Aalo-X, a 10-megawatt sodium-cooled extra modular reactor that will use low-enriched uranium dioxide fuel. The reactor is being built at INL and will serve as a critical test reactor.
The Aalo test reactor is a predecessor to Aalo Pod, a 50 megawatt power plant that will ultimately be used for co-locating and powering artificial intelligence (AI) data centers. The company expects the reactor to be online by 2029.