A venture-backed startup just achieved nuclear criticality in rural Utah, outside of a national laboratory for the first time in American history. Isaiah Taylor - making nuclear reactors's (valaratomics) Ward 250 reactor went critical at the San Rafael Energy Lab in Emery County, beating President Trump's July 4th deadline by over two weeks. The reactor is a Gen IV TRISO-fueled high-temperature gas reactor, helium-cooled, starting at 100 kWt, scalable to 5 MWe. This is the second of three reactors called for under Executive Order 14301, which Trump signed a year ago launching the DOE Reactor Pilot Program. Antares was first across the line a few weeks ago. 11 teams are racing. To put the speed in perspective: the last time America brought a new commercial reactor online was Vogtle Unit 4 in 2024. That project took over a decade and ran $17 billion over budget. Valar went from founding to criticality in a fraction of that time. Taylor says the goal is power generation by July 4th. Not just criticality, actual power. The energy abundance era isn't theoretical anymore. It's being built in a county of 10,000 people in the Utah desert.