Valar's mission page lists Max Ukropina as Head of Projects. In the NOVA release (Nov 2025) he said President Trump asked industry and the labs 'to make nuclear great again'. At the Trust Lands board on 20 August 2026 (auto-transcript and approved minutes) he said Valar talked to more than 20 states; that in 2024 he came to Utah and met the Office of Energy Development, the Governor's economic office, SERDA and Carbon County (the auto-transcript renders these as 'Office of Development, the Goyo, Serta, and Carbon County'), when the plan was to make fuels from coal-plant flue gas; that the Emery lab is 'no longer just a test facility' but Valar's whole Utah operation including a fuel facility; that Valar is buying 110 acres from Emery County (mine-018); and that Valar had been careful to avoid 'overpromising' to rural communities. Set beside the record: in July 2025 Valar told Emery County about a 12-month test in a temporary facility (orig-045, mine-019), and the first public record naming Valar for the Carbon site is from August 2026 (csite-018), although by his account the company had been talking with Carbon County since 2024 (csite-028). His earlier career was not established from any readable source (his profile pages need a login).

• Mission | Valar Atomics (Valar Atomics) primary company “Max Ukropina Head of Projects”
• Los Alamos National Laboratory and Valar Atomics Announce Project NOVA Criticality Milestone in Nevada (Valar Atomics, 2025-11-18) primary company “President Trump asked industry and the labs to make nuclear great again.”
• 2026-08-20 TLA Board of Trustees Meeting Audio Transcript (auto-generated) (Utah Trust Lands Administration (Utah Public Notice Website), 2026-08-24) primary government “It's no longer just a test facility.”
• 08.20.2026 FINAL TLA Minutes (Utah Trust Lands Administration (Utah Public Notice Website), 2026-09) primary government