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Conference Spotlight
2026 Nuclear Energy Conference & Expo (NECX)
August 24–27, 2026
Dallas, TX|Hilton Anatole
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Aalo Atomics achieves criticality on July 4
Executive Order 14301 set an ambitious goal for at least three test reactors to achieve criticality by July 4. Two private companies participating in the Department of Energy’s Reactor Pilot Program—Antares and Valar Atomics—reached this stage earlier in June, and Deployable Energy—participating in the DOE's Nuclear Energy Launch Pad—became the third last week.
In the last few weeks, reports indicated that Aalo would be next, reaching criticality at Idaho National Laboratory with a low-enriched uranium–fueled, sodium-cooled reactor on or near the target date set forth by President Trump’s EO 14301. In the early hours of July 4, Aalo’s critical test reactor—a full-scale zero-power version of its planned 10-MWe Aalo-X—did just that, becoming the fourth DOE-authorized reactor to hit the milestone.
Technical Session|Sponsored by FCWMD
Wednesday, June 18, 2025|3:15–5:00PM CDT|Indiana/Iowa
Session Chair:
Andrew R. Griffith
Session Organizer:
Alternate Chair:
Jared A. Johnson
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Conceptual Design of a Thermal Accelerator Driven System for the Transmutation of Long-Lived Fission Products
3:15–3:35PM CDT
Alberto Talamo (ANL), Taek K. Kim (ANL), Mohamed Brahim (ANL), Won Sik Yang (Univ. Michigan)
Paper
Composite Moderators in Micro-Pebble-Bed High Temperature Gas Cooled Reactors
3:35–3:55PM CDT
Donald L. Doyle (Univ. Tennessee, Knoxville), Jason Trelewicz (Stony Brook Univ.), Nicholas R. Brown (Univ. Tennessee, Knoxville)
Defense Waste Processing Facility Main Process Cell Crane Upgrade and Simulation
3:55–4:15PM CDT
Matt Borton (PAR Systems), Charles Kelly (Savannah River Mission Completion), Randall Wilkinson (Savannah River Mission Completion), John Olsen (GlobalSim)
Presented by Judd Lapp (PAR)
Neutronic Feasibility of Breakeven Molten Salt Fast Reactor Based on a Closed Fuel Cycle
4:15–4:35PM CDT
Eunhyug Lee (KAIST), Taesuk Oh (Korea Advanced Institute of Science & Technology), Yonghee Kim (KAIST)
Determination of Molten Salt Reactor Off-gas Cleaning Rate Using Simulated Off-gas Analysis
4:35–4:55PM CDT
Alexander Macris (Univ. Texas, Austin), Kevin T. Clarno (Univ. Texas, Austin), Ondrej Chvala (Univ. Texas, Austin)
