On May 23, 2025, President Trump signed Executive Order 14301, “Reforming Nuclear Reactor Testing at the DOE,” which instructed the Department of Energy to create a Reactor Pilot Program (RPP)—a new system in which companies could pursue DOE authorization to build and test their first-of-a-kind nuclear technologies. EO 14301 set an ambitious goal for that program: three reactors achieving criticality by July 4, 2026.

Sen. Mike Lee (R., Utah), chair of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources (ENR), has introduced a bill that would grant the Department of Energy greater authority over new nuclear projects under the federal agency’s oversight.

With about seven months left in the race to bring DOE-authorized test reactors on line by July 4, 2026, via the Reactor Pilot Program, Deep Fission has announced that it will break ground on its associated project on December 9 in Parsons, Kansas. It’s one of many companies in the program that has made significant headway in recent months.

It has been about three months since the Department of Energy named 10 companies for its new Reactor Pilot Program, which maps out how the DOE would meet the goal announced in May by Executive Order 14301 of having three reactors achieve criticality by July 4, 2026.

Over the past several weeks, there has been a lot of activity on the nuclear front in Kansas, ranging from new nuclear sitings to investments.

At a glance: TerraPower signed a memorandum of understanding with Evergy and the Kansas government on small modular reactors; Deep Fission announced investments in Kansas, Utah, and Texas; and the Kansas Board of Regents will invest $15 million in energy projects. Read on to get more information on these items.

Since the Department of Energy kicked off a 10-company race with its Nuclear Reactor Pilot Program to bring test reactors on line by July 4, 2026, the industry has been waiting for new headlines proclaiming progress. Aalo Atomics broke ahead of the pack first by announcing last week that it had broken ground on its 10-MWe Aalo-X at Idaho National Laboratory.

The race to bring test reactors on line by July 4, 2026, got a boost today when the Department of Energy unveiled the names of 10 companies selected for the Nuclear Reactor Pilot Program—a new pathway that allows reactor authorization outside national labs.

As first outlined in one of the four executive orders on nuclear energy released by President Trump on May 23 and in the request for applications for the Reactor Pilot Program released June 18, the companies must use their own money and sites—and DOE authorization—to get reactors operating. What they won’t need is a Nuclear Regulatory Commission license.

Nuclear start-ups Deep Fission and Deep Isolation will collaborate on the management of spent nuclear fuel from Deep Fission’s advanced underground reactors under a memorandum of understanding signed by the companies.

The Department of Energy’s Gateway for Accelerated Innovation in Nuclear (GAIN) has awarded four fiscal year 2025 vouchers to support the development of advanced nuclear technologies. Each company will get access to specific capabilities and expertise in the DOE’s national laboratory complex—in this round of awards both Idaho National Laboratory and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory are named—and will be responsible for a minimum 20 percent cost share, which can be an in-kind contribution.