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374 facts · 512 sources · updated 2026-09-30

Fact plan-005

newrecordconfirmed First criticality date: every dated record says June 18; an unfinished Valar post's 14 days fits a draft written about July 2
2026-06-18 · plan-005 · Valar Atomics, U.S. Department of Energy, Isaiah Taylor

DOE's release of 18 June 2026 opens 'Today' and says Ward 250 'successfully completed' a zero-power fueled criticality demonstration; it gives no clock time, and 'today' may describe the announcement rather than the first moment of criticality. DOE's 25 July fact sheet says that on 18 June DOE 'announced' it, and DOE's program page lists 18 June as the date the press release was published. Valar's own dated statements agree on 18 June: its Series B post (4 August) says 'On June 18, Ward 250 achieved self-sustaining criticality', and its Castle Country page lists the milestone under '18 June 2026'; KSL/Deseret (6 July) also reported it went critical on 18 June. On 24 June Valar's Harry Hansen told Price's council 'We went critical last week' (ETV). The one apparent outlier is Valar's unlisted, unfinished 'Ward 250 By the Numbers' post, dated 28 June 2026 under Isaiah Taylor's name, which says it has been '14 days since we first went critical' and 'two weeks'; the same post still carries placeholders ('made power on July XX', '[xxx]'), so it reads as drafted about 2 July under an earlier 28 June date field, and its 14 days fits DOE's 18 June date (disc-040). The Series B post also has two loose counts of its own: electricity came 'just a week later' than 18 June, while the public demonstration was on 1 July; and it 'took seven months' to take Ward 250 critical, while Taylor said on 18 June the site had been empty nine months earlier (the counts may start from different points). No DOE record read states the date and time of first criticality; the startup approval and operating logs are not public (safe-007).

In plain termsEvery dated record puts the reactor's first chain reaction on June 18, 2026: DOE's announcement, Valar's own funding announcement and its website. Only one unfinished Valar post, dated June 28, says 'two weeks'; the same post still carries placeholders, and its 14 days fits DOE's June 18 date if it was written about July 2. The difference is small and does not affect safety. It does show that the public timeline rests on announcements, because the reactor's own logbook has not been released.
verified 2026-09-29: Rewritten in verify pass 2026-09-29. The earlier headline ('Valar's own count implies about June 14') leaned on the unfinished draft and said DOE's release gives no date; the release opens 'Today', and Valar's own Series B post and Castle Country page give 18 June. 'By the Numbers' confirmed unlisted: not linked from valaratomics.com/docs on 2026-09-29. Correction 2026-09-29 (calculation audit): headline and detail: the 14 days fits a draft written about 2 July, not a 14 June date. Correction 2026-09-29 (wording review): plain aligned with the corrected headline and detail (14 days fits a draft written about 2 July).

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