Valar Atomics Achieves Cold Criticality With Project NOVA California-based reactor developer Valar Atomics announced the milestone achievement of obtaining criticality under Project NOVA in collaboration with the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Los Alamos National Lab (LANL). Criticality was achieved at 11:45 AM PT on November 17th. Zero-power criticality, or “cold criticality”, is the foundational milestone which precedes nuclear operation with power. It is a self-sustaining chain reaction of uranium-235 within a nuclear core, but without reaching full operating temperatures or actively removing heat with a working fluid. Zero-power criticality allows a greater understanding of the neutronic characteristics of the core… — Continue at ZeroHedge News : Read More
