Valar's own safety documents show how much of the design basis is inherited. The NSDA qualifies the fuel on US AGR-1/2 irradiation data and German AVR/THTR operating experience, adapts the safety method from NRC's research-reactor guide NUREG-1537 (used for university reactors), and cites the Vallecitos Nuclear Center as a precedent for a contractor-owned facility under DOE. The QA plan cites German HOBEG fuel-making technology. What the company presents as new is the business model (mass production, gigasites, vertical integration) and speed, not the reactor physics; the company itself notes advanced designs 'have been around for decades'. AVR and THTR burned pebble fuel, not the uranium-oxycarbide compacts Ward 250 uses, and the NSDA does not say which of their data apply.

• Ward250 Nuclear Safety Design Agreement (Document 100403, Rev. 02) (Valar Atomics, 2025-10) primary filing “German AVR/THTR operational experience”
• Ward250 San Rafael Facility Quality Assurance Program Description (Document 100474, Rev. 02) (Valar Atomics, 2025-10) primary filing
• Technology | Valar Atomics (Valar Atomics) primary company “Advanced nuclear designs have been around for decades”