DOE named Valar on 30 September 2025 in 'the second round of conditional selections' for its Fuel Line Pilot Program, 'to support TRISO fuel fabrication for the Ward250 reactor deployment'; the program uses DOE authorization for fuel lines. Valar's QA program covers a 'Valarin Fuel Fabrication Facility' at the lab, based on German HOBEG methods and designed to stay below DOE Hazard Category 3 ('<HC3'; orig-038); DOE-STD-1271 bars adding nuclear material above Hazard Category 3 levels to a facility until the readiness review and startup approval are complete; a fuel line kept below that level would not reach that gate, and no record read says what review applies instead. DOE's categorical exclusion says the Ward 250 facility 'comprises the Reactor Complex and Fuel Laboratory', and Valar's QA program calls the Ward250 Fuel Laboratory a TRISO fuel manufacturing facility, but the CX's analysis does not mention fuel fabrication. Valar job postings open on 29 September 2026 seek engineers in Orangeville to 'install, troubleshoot, and optimize pilot scale uranium processing equipment' on a TRISO line (a fluidized-bed chemical vapor deposition coater; one posting asks for experience with wet chemistry or high-temperature processing), building on 'completed HAZOPs and existing safety analyses', a Nuclear Operations Manager to oversee 'both the reactor plant and the pilot TRISO fuel fabrication facility', and a material control and accounting specialist for special nuclear material 'at Valar Atomics TRISO manufacturing facilities'. DOE's selection release says each company bears all costs of building, operating and decommissioning its fuel facility. By comparison, Oklo announced in November 2025 that DOE's Idaho office had approved an NSDA for its fuel fabrication facility, the first under the fuel-line program. No NSDA, safety analysis, DOE authorization or state license for Valar's fuel line was found as of 29 September 2026. The Carbon County plan also includes fuel manufacturing (csite-007). The quality program gives no uranium inventory, enrichment or threshold for its <HC3 claim, and the safety agreement never mentions the fuel facility (it categorizes only the reactor, as Hazard Category 2), so the claim cannot be checked from Valar's public papers.

• Energy Department Selects Four Companies for Advanced Nuclear Fuel Line Pilot Projects (U.S. Department of Energy, 2025-09-30) primary government “To support TRISO fuel fabrication for the Ward250 reactor deployment”
• Ward250 San Rafael Facility Quality Assurance Program Description, No. 100474, Rev 02 (status: Approved) (Valar Atomics, 2025-10) primary company “ensures <HC3 categorization through multiple layers of inherent safety”
• NEPA Determination DOE-ID-26-005: Valar Ward250 Research Reactor (categorical exclusion B5.26) (U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Nuclear Energy (Idaho), 2026-04-22) primary government “The Ward250 facility comprises the Reactor Complex and Fuel Laboratory”
• Valar Atomics job board (92 open postings, public Greenhouse feed), read 2026-09-29 (Valar Atomics, 2026-09-29) primary company “install, troubleshoot, and optimize pilot scale uranium processing equipment”
• DOE-STD-1271-2025, Authorization Pathway for Nuclear Facilities (August 2025; DOE standard, copy posted by the Nuclear Innovation Alliance) (U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Nuclear Energy, 2025-08) primary government
• Ward250 San Rafael Facility Quality Assurance Program Description, No. 100474, Rev 02 (status: Approved) (Valar Atomics, 2025-10) primary company “The Ward250 Fuel Laboratory represents a state-of-the-art TRISO fuel manufacturing facility”
• Oklo Announces U.S. Department of Energy Approval for Nuclear Safety Design Agreement of Aurora Fuel Fabrication Facility (Oklo Inc. (Business Wire), 2025-11-11) primary company “has approved the Nuclear Safety Design Agreement (NSDA) for the Aurora Fuel Fabrication Facility”