Valar Atomics plans massive nuclear-powered data center in Utah with over 450 reactors

A two-year-old nuclear startup is betting that the best way to power the AI revolution is to build its own grid. Valar Atomics, founded in 2023 by Isaiah Taylor, plans to deploy more than 450 small reactors across over 9,500 acres in Utah, creating what may become one of the most ambitious energy-compute projects ever attempted. The concept is deceptively simple: instead of plugging data centers into an already-strained electrical grid, build a fleet of high-temperature gas-cooled reactors (HTGRs) right next to the servers. The company calls these facilities “gigasites,” which provide integrated clusters of reactors that can concurrently deliver electricity, heat, and fuels at an industrial scale. From test reactor to billion-dollar valuation Its Ward 250 test microreactor, located at the Utah San Rafael Energy Lab, reached fueled criticality on June 18, 2026. That made it the first DOE-authorized reactor built outside a national laboratory. Less than two weeks later, on July 1, the reactor generated its first electricity. Valar used that power to run one of Nvidia’s Blackwell chips during a live showcase in July 2026. In August 2026, Valar raised $1B in a Series B funding round, p...