# Reactor Pilot Program **Entity class:** U.S. Department of Energy advanced-reactor program **Domain:** Nuclear energy / AI infrastructure / national mission **Doc Type:** Developed Program Node **Maturity:** Active **As of:** 2026-09-20 ## Definition The **Reactor Pilot Program** is the Department of Energy program accelerated under Executive Order 14301 of May 23, 2025 to bring advanced test reactors to criticality. DOE reported four criticalities by July 4, 2026: Antares's Mark-0, Valar Atomics' Ward 250, Deployable Energy's Unity, and Aalo Atomics' Aalo-X at Idaho National Laboratory. ## Machine-Intelligence Context The program sits within the energy layer supporting rapidly expanding computational infrastructure. Its relevance to [[articles/A History of Machine Intelligence|A History of Machine Intelligence]] is the institutional convergence of national AI, laboratory automation, supercomputing, grid security, and advanced nuclear capacity under DOE. ## Evidence Ledger - **Established:** Executive Order 14301 directed DOE to achieve at least three advanced-reactor criticalities by July 4, 2026. - **Established:** DOE announced a fourth criticality by that date. - **Strongly indicated:** Advanced reactors are being developed within the same national institutional environment that is scaling AI and scientific-computing infrastructure. - **Unresolved:** Which reactors will supply specific AI data centers or Genesis facilities. Power-purchase agreements, interconnection filings, site plans, and operating contracts will promote or demote individual pairings. ## Sources / Provenance - U.S. Department of Energy, [“Department of Energy Celebrates Fourth Criticality Ahead of July 4th Goal” (2026)](https://www.energy.gov/es/node/4859300). - [[articles/A History of Machine Intelligence|A History of Machine Intelligence]]. ## Relationships - **Institutional convergence with:** [[wiki/Genesis Mission|Genesis Mission]]. - **Supplies the energy context for:** [[wiki/Hyperscale Data Center|Hyperscale Data Center]] and exascale computation. - **Measured through:** [[wiki/Coordination Ladder|Coordination Ladder]].