A US Nuclear Renaissance Needs More than a Highlight Reel

Share this link on Facebook

Share this page on X (Twitter)

Share this link on LinkedIn

Share this page on Reddit

Email a link to this page

The Trump administration’s bid for American energy dominance requires sustained attention, not public relations cinema.

The hoped-for nuclear renaissance in America now has a highlight reel. It is a spectacular cinematic marriage of national security and nuclear flexing that features three massive C-17’s airlifting a Valar Atomics’ Ward 250 advanced nuclear reactor from California to Utah.

This is the vivid imagery of American energy dominance that the Trump administration loves. It projects an agile private sector driving nuclear expansion in tandem with US military might that can deliver a microreactor anywhere in the world on demand.

But is this image reality?

Valar’s Nuclear Reactor PR Exercise

Despite its obvious success, the Ward 250 flight raises questions about how much of this is public relations vs. actual progress toward the administration’s nuclear deployment goals. 

The Ward 250 flight occurred because Valar is building a reactor test site at the San Rafael Energy Lab in Orangeville, Utah. But no power will be produced at this site. It is building a test reactor “designed to support research and development, not power generation.” 

The Wall Street Journal reported that Valar paid the cost of the flight. But the political and public-relations return on this investment was likely priceless as the event featured Utah Governor Spencer Cox, Secretary of Energy Chris Wright, and Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment Michael Duffey.

Valar is a start-up launched in 2023, and its founder wants to make it the fissioning counterpart to Elon Musk’s SpaceX. It is suing the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), which will ultimately determine whether Valar’s reactor can be licensed for commercial........

© The National Interest