The same April 2025 post says Utah, Texas and other states had expressed interest in hosting the test reactor, but that because the NRC had not exempted small test reactors, Valar was building and testing it in the Philippines instead. Four months later (August 2025) DOE's pilot selection gave Valar a U.S. path, and its first reactor to be built, Ward 250, went to Utah instead (orig-006); Ward One stayed a Philippine plan. The November 2025 NOVA release still lists the Philippine partnership, and ANS reported that month that Ward One was slated to be built there by a Philippine-incorporated Valar subsidiary. Set beside the record: as of April 2026, Philippine reporting says the reactor had not been built and the project was still seeking approval to use a site on University of the Philippines land (orig-064).

• Valar Atomics is Suing the NRC (Valar Atomics, 2025-04-07) primary company “we are building and testing this reactor in the Philippines instead”
• Los Alamos National Laboratory and Valar Atomics Announce Project NOVA Criticality Milestone in Nevada (Valar Atomics (joint announcement with LANL), 2025-11-18) primary company “partnered with the Philippines Nuclear Research Institute”
• New financing round benefits Valar (American Nuclear Society, Nuclear Newswire, 2025-11-13) news “slated to be built in the Philippines”