With the recent wave of milestones across the U.S. nuclear sector, we were eager to better understand what these achievements mean for the future of advanced reactors. Over the past month, Antares, Valar Atomics, Deployable Energy, and Aalo Atomics each achieved criticality, an important technical milestone, through the Department of Energy's Reactor Pilot Program (RPP) and Nuclear Energy Launch Pad. To help us put these milestones into context, we were delighted to host Dr. Rian Bahran, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Nuclear Reactors in the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Nuclear Energy. Rian oversees the Department's portfolio for advanced reactor research, demonstration, and deployment, and is a career member of the Senior Executive Service who has served under both the Biden and Trump Administrations. We were thrilled to visit with Rian to "demystify" the latest developments in U.S. nuclear and discuss what still needs to happen before these technologies reach commercial scale.
In our conversation, Rian explains why the four recent criticality milestones represent an important step forward for advanced nuclear. While criticality is not the finish line, he shares how these demonstrations help validate a new commercialization pathway by allowing companies to build and test nuclear hardware in months rather than years. He describes how the Department of Energy’s Reactor Pilot and Launch Pad initiatives are creating greater regulatory certainty, helping companies unlock private capital, and accelerating progress toward commercial deployment.
We discuss the DOE’s broader strategy for expanding U.S. nuclear capacity, from gigawatt-scale reactors and small modular reactors to microreactors. Rian explains why the DOE is pursuing multiple technologies simultaneously, allowing the market to determine the winning designs while supporting innovation across the reactor, fuel cycle, and supply chain ecosystems. He outlines how reactor uprates, restarts, and investments across the nuclear fuel cycle can provide near-term additions to U.S. generating capacity while advanced reactors continue progressing toward commercialization.
We explore the role advanced nuclear could play in powering AI infrastructure, military installations, industrial facilities, and future export markets. Rian discusses how the DOE is leveraging AI to accelerate reactor design, licensing, manufacturing, and deployment, and why workforce development has become one of the industry’s greatest long-term challenges. He emphasizes that the U.S. has reached a true inflection point for nuclear energy, driven by unprecedented alignment across government, industry, private capital, and growing electricity demand. It was a wide-ranging and fascinating discussion, and we sincerely appreciate Rian taking the time to join us during such a busy time.
Mike Bradley kicked us off by noting that three key themes have driven markets so far this quarter. First, Treasury yields have continued to move higher, with the 10-year Treasury yield rising to approximately 4.55% and the 30-year Treasury yield climbing above 5%. Second, renewed geopolitical uncertainty following the end of the Iranian ceasefire helped lift WTI crude oil prices by roughly $4/bbl this week to approximately $72/bbl. Third, equity markets have experienced notable sector rotation, with investors shifting capital out of semiconductor stocks and back into the Magnificent 7. Mike concluded by highlighting the sharp reversal in sentiment toward small modular reactor (SMR) companies. While SMR stocks were among the market's strongest performers entering 2026 amid growing enthusiasm for nuclear power, the group is now down roughly 30% on average year-to-date. Nick Morriss, Brett Rampal, and Veriten Senior Advisor Bill Flores also joined the discussion, contributing their perspectives and questions on nuclear energy and power.
