- Antares' Mark-0 microreactor achieved initial criticality at Idaho National Laboratory under DOE authorization, making it the first private company to bring an advanced reactor to criticality under the DOE Reactor Pilot Program.
- The demonstration, supported by DOE, INL, BWX Technologies, and the U.S. Army, establishes a replicable licensing pathway to accelerate future reactor demonstrations and aims to deploy electricity-producing microreactors at military installations by 2028.
- The reactor uses TRISO fuel fabricated by BWXT, benefiting from expertise developed through the U.S. Army's Project Pele, and validates key physics parameters while contributing data to Project Pele.
- This milestone marks progress toward Antares' goals of electricity production in 2027 and power to military installations in 2028, highlighting a collaborative effort between industry and government to revive the American nuclear industry.
- The achievement demonstrates rapid progress from concept to criticality in under 12 months, leveraging decades of DOE investment and enabling iterative reactor testing to advance commercial reactor development.