Valar Watch · Fact dir-026

Fact dir-026

newrecordconfirmed Los Alamos' NOVA write-up says the test used the lab's old CNPS fuel; the joint NOVA release said Valar provided the TRISO fuel

2026-05-22 · dir-026 · Los Alamos National Laboratory, National Criticality Experiments Research Center, DOE Nuclear Criticality Safety Program, Valar Atomics

A Los Alamos article on the NOVA experiment (LA-UR-26-20601), in the Spring 2026 newsletter of DOE's Nuclear Criticality Safety Program, says NOVA ran at NCERC over four weeks in November and December 2025 on the Deimos capability, with the inner core changed to 'a portion of the Ward250 reactor'. It says NOVA used many of Ward250's actual materials, including the type of graphite, control-rod material and fixed-absorber material. It says data were taken in 36 configurations, 10 of them critical, and that the fuel was the HALEU TRISO 'CNPS compacts previously used in Deimos'. LANL's December 2024 Deimos release says that experiment used components long in the NCERC inventory, 'such as the fuel'. LANL's Deimos paper says the CNPS fuel came from a 1980s Los Alamos experiment (dir-027). The joint LANL-Valar NOVA release on Valar's site (18 November 2025) says under 'Roles and Safeguards' that Valar Atomics provided the reactor core, TRISO fuel and system configuration, and ANS Nuclear News reported the same on 18 November 2025 (orig-008, orig-032, plan-014). The two accounts differ on where NOVA's fuel came from. No record read explains the difference. (Updates orig-008.)

In plain termsThe joint announcement of Valar's November 2025 test in Nevada said Valar supplied the fuel. Los Alamos' own technical write-up says the test used old fuel from the lab's stock, first made for a 1980s experiment and reused in 2024. The two accounts differ, and no public record explains why.

NCSP Newsletter, Spring 2026: 'Nuclear Observations for Valar Atomics (NOVA)', LA-UR-26-20601 (pp. 5-6) (U.S. DOE Nuclear Criticality Safety Program (Los Alamos article; hosted by LLNL), 2026-05-22) primary government “(HALEU) Tri IsoStructural (TRISO) CNPS compacts previously used in Deimos”
Los Alamos conducts first critical experiment using high assay low enriched uranium in decades (Los Alamos National Laboratory, 2024-12-16) primary government “existing components that have long been in the NCERC inventory, such as the fuel”
Los Alamos National Laboratory and Valar Atomics Announce Project NOVA Criticality Milestone in Nevada (Valar Atomics / Los Alamos National Laboratory (joint release on Valar's site), 2025-11-18) primary company “provided the reactor core, TRISO fuel, and system configuration.”
Valar achieves cold criticality at LANL (American Nuclear Society, Nuclear News, 2025-11-18) news “Valar provided the reactor core, system configuration, and the TRISO fuel itself.”

verified 2026-09-30: Skeptic pass 2026-09-30: re-read the NCSP Spring PDF (13 pages; created 22 May 2026), NOVA article pp. 5-6; quote exact across the page break. Re-read the LANL release (datePublished 2024-12-16) and the NOVA release (dated 18 Nov 2025; the 'Roles and Safeguards' line sits under the 'Valar Atomics' label, so the quote starts at 'provided'). Re-read the ANS page (18 Nov 2025). Removed speculation about a transfer of the compacts to Valar. The headline now says the release was joint, since it carries LANL's name. Renumbered from a duplicate 'dir-018'.

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