"The Rebirth Of America's Nuclear Industry": Antares Microreactor Goes Critical

"The Rebirth Of America's Nuclear Industry": Antares Microreactor Goes Critical Antares just did something that has been painfully rare in American nuclear energy: it took a privately developed advanced reactor from concept to actual criticality on an aggressive, publicly stated schedule. On June 4th at Idaho National Laboratory (INL), the company’s Mark-0 microreactor achieved initial zero-power fueled criticality under the Department of Energy’s Reactor Pilot Program.  When a reactor goes critical, it is experiencing a self-sustaining chain reaction of fissioning uranium atoms inside of its core. A zero-power fueled criticality means the...