Xan Doane retweeted
I wrote this article about the generational movement in the El Segundo hardtech scene.
theblaze.com/frontier/americ…
So rad to see my photos in this article on El Segundo! Thank you @jroberson151 for featuring them!
theblaze.com/frontier/americ…
Xan Doane retweeted
The crew that makes Quarterhorse go from taxi to supersonic.
📸(@xandoane) (@hermeuscorp )
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there were only a handful of people on stage / camera today. everyone @valaratomics turned on this reactor: c-suite, machinists, engineers, bizops, and welders.
@MaxUkropina said it best: we have the greatest team in nuclear.
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BREAKING: @valaratomics' Ward 250 reactor successfully achieved criticality in Emery County, Utah, becoming the first @ENERGY-authorized reactor built outside a national laboratory.
This achievement is a testament to the innovators, builders, and public servants working to strengthen America’s energy future. Utah is proud to be at the forefront of the next generation of nuclear technology.
Read more 👇
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I enjoyed taking Jemima from The Information around our first nuclear site and sharing more about Valar Atomics!
At Valar, we probably celebrate different things than most startups. A cold criticality means more to us than a billion-dollar MOU. Generating 100kW of actual power matters more than theoretical demand for 1GW. Getting a full, hardened reactor packaged onto a C-17 and flown with the Air Force matters more than another funding announcement.
To people outside the deep tech startup ecosystem, these can look like baby steps. Cold criticality was a baby step; that's why our goal for July 4th is to make power. But every important technology in history started with small first steps. The first transistor, the first rocket launch, the first computers all looked insignificant before they changed the world.
SMRs are still in their infancy, and infancy is measured in engineering milestones. You do not get to gigawatts without first proving watts. Cold criticality was one small step. Ward250 making first power will be another small step. Then another after that.
That’s how real technology development works. First physics, then engineering, then scale. Most people only notice once the compounding becomes impossible to ignore.
📸📸 driving to work hoping to get a good pic and got so lucky that Valar was directly under a rainbow🤝
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can confirm taking photos here is exceedingly fun also🙂↕️📸
