Valar Watch · Fact gov-027

Fact gov-027

newrecordreported The Pentagon flew Valar's unfueled reactor; no Defense Department contract with Valar is on the federal record

2026-02-15 · gov-027 · U.S. Department of Defense, U.S. Air Force, U.S. Department of Energy, Chris Wright, Valar Atomics

Stars and Stripes (17 Feb 2026) reports the 15 February 2026 airlift, called Operation Windlord, which moved Ward 250 modules on Air Force C-17s from March Air Reserve Base, California, to Hill Air Force Base, Utah, with Energy Secretary Chris Wright taking part; it states that the '5 megawatt nuclear reactor could theoretically power about 5,000 homes'. That is far above the 100 kWt test power the safety agreement allows (orig-030, orig-031); 5 MW matches the size the state lab's Valar page says the design is meant to 'scale up to' (gov-026), not Ward 250 as flown. The Air Force's own article on the reservists who supported the flight (af.mil) refused our reader. USAspending shows no Defense Department contract, grant or other award to Valar (orig-055, gov-003), and none of Valar's lobbying reports lists the Defense Department as contacted (gov-004). Who paid for the flights is not stated in any government record read; a Wall Street Journal report cited elsewhere (origins.json) could not be read. The Army's own reactor program under EO 14299 (gov-009) is separate; no record read ties Valar to it.

In plain termsThe U.S. military flew Valar's reactor, without fuel, to Utah in three cargo planes, with the Energy Secretary taking part, and a military newspaper called it a 5-megawatt reactor, which is the eventual design goal, not the 100-kilowatt test reactor its safety papers allow. Yet there is no Defense Department contract with Valar in federal spending records, and who paid for the flights is not in any public government document found. A FOIA request to the Air Force would show who paid.

Air Force C-17 Globemaster III aircraft airlift nuclear reactor in a first-of-its-kind mission (Stars and Stripes, 2026-02-17) news “The 5 megawatt nuclear reactor could theoretically power about 5,000 homes.”
USAspending award search, recipient 'VALAR ATOMICS', all prime award types, FY2021-FY2026 (API query run 2026-09-29; 1 result, the DOE OTA) (USAspending.gov) primary government

verified 2026-09-29: Re-read Stars and Stripes and re-ran USAspending searches for all award types 2026-09-29. Fixed: the article says Wright 'took part', not that he was aboard; the 5 MW figure is Valar's eventual design size per the state lab page, not a random error; the search, not the OTA record, now supports 'no DoD award'. Stays 'reported'.

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