I am really exhausted with a lot of the non-commercial nuclear community lately. @WECNuclear and @gvhnuclear and @TerraPower and @oklo and @KairosPower and @AntaresNuclear and @valaratomics and @xenergynuclear DONT sh!t all over eachother and want to see eachother succeed. Because the opportunity is HUGE. Why do folks, like NGOs and ER Doctors that proport to tell you what to think, feel the need to do so instead? I remember when we were searching for ANY wins for nuclear. When no one cared. When we were closing plants. Now. That folks are making progress in loads of different directions, people that have never even directly participated in a single commercial nuclear win in their lives are trying to tell everyone what matters and does not matter. I remember when there were no wins. I remember writing the last fuel contract for Kewaunee. I remember multiple cycles of layoffs. I also remember getting big so-called commercial wins, as denoted by an NGO saying they know what real progress is, that actually were perhaps steps backward. Like having the NRC certify the design for a reactor you’ve never built before. Everything is different today. And whenever I talk to the actual leaders and developers involved in lots of the great activities going on, they can list a multitude of things they have learned and are gaining experience in. Up until the last couple years, there was little to no incentive or and few, if any, appropriately sized pathways for testing and prototyping of commercial nuclear energy technology. JUST ASK THE DEVELOPERS THAT WENT FOR YEARS TRYING TO GET SOMETHING GOING AND HIT A BRICK WALL. I can remember, having NGOs and talking heads saying, “just go straight to commercial demonstration,” and sh!tting on an iterative prototyping and testing program like Kairos Power is engaged in RIGHT NOW that will likely yield more MWs on the grid faster than any of the commercial demonstrations being funded to the tune of billions of federal dollars. Are we gonna end up with thousands of microreactors deployed all over the country and the world? I’m not sure and neither should you be. Two years ago, the story of large reactors was a dead issue in this country. Time, progress, and innovation can change lots of things. So should we celebrate all the nuclear wins? You’re damn right we should. Because we can so easily go back to the bad old days and I’ve yet to meet anyone that can predict the future. It’s gonna take lots of wins to get us to the commercial nuclear future we want. Many of which may go no where in the long run. But sh!tting on them as they happen is likely not as productive as trying to understand progress and what the world of possibilities may be. FTW.

From the 17th floor of the NRC’s headquarters, Chairman Ho K. Nieh can see what he describes as a “memorial” to the nuclear energy renaissance that was expected in the early to mid-2000s, but that failed to materialize. More from my interview with Nieh: washingtonexaminer.com/polic…

Today, the Antares Mark-0 reactor achieved criticality – the first in @ENERGY’s Reactor Pilot Program to do so and the first new, novel reactor to do so at INL in more than 50 years. This is zero-power criticality: proof the system works. Congratulations to @AntaresNuclear and thanks to the @INL staff who made it happen. energy.gov/articles/departme…

It’s an honor to follow the nuclear renaissance in real time through The Last Renaissance. Here are some screen grabs from the footage we got at @INL this past week. We will drop a video about the race to criticality next month, stay tuned!

Hardware is everything! Progress is inevitable! Teams deliver!! Congrats @AntaresNuclear and @jordanbramble you are an inspiration to us all! First critical advanced reactor in decades. @OverReactor1776 for clear the path!!

Hardware is everything! Progress is inevitable! Teams deliver!! Congrats @AntaresNuclear and @jordanbramble you are an inspiration to us all! First critical advanced reactor in decades. @OverReactor1776 for clear the path!!

WE HAVE ACHIEVED CRITICALITY ✨ On the fourth of June 2026, the Idaho sun rose over the high desert kindling the dawn of the Second Atomic Age. Last May, President Trump signed an executive order mandating that three reactors go critical before July 4th, 2026. One month ahead of schedule, @AntaresNuclear answered, sustaining a steady chain reaction at Idaho National Laboratory. This is the first new reactor brought to life at INL since 1973. The same ground where, in 1951, nuclear electricity first powered four light bulbs. Criticality is only the beginning, a fleeting spark on a long and difficult road. But it carries a message that echoes across the plains: American Nuclear is back. Today marks the return of a new era, one where the United States once again tackles the hard things, where innovation is pursued without apology and celebrated without restraint. It was powerful to stand on that iconic ground and witness history be made! Congratulations to every single one involved ✨

Antares Mark-0 has achieved initial criticality! ⚛️

When America sets bold goals, America delivers. Last year, President Trump challenged our nation to bring multiple advanced reactors to criticality by America’s 250th Anniversary. Today, we reach an important milestone as the first non-light-water reactor goes critical in more than 40 years. American workers, engineers, entrepreneurs, and local communities made this possible. Their achievement is proof that the United States still leads the world in innovation—and that America’s nuclear renaissance is well underway.

Antares Mark-0 has achieved initial criticality! ⚛️