Valar Atomics broke ground on its Ward 250 reactor in Utah and closed a $130 million Series A round to fund its Gigasite vision. Valar became the first SMR startup to achieve a controlled chain reaction (criticality) at very low power — a landmark milestone. The company's Gigasite model integrates high-temperature gas reactors into massive industrial campuses for hydrogen production, data centre power, and synthetic fuels. Valar's strategy bypasses utility procurement processes by owning and operating reactors directly.