Aalo Atomics broke ground to start construction on Aalo-X, the first experimental extra modular nuclear reactor (XMR).
Located next to Idaho National Laboratory’s Materials and Fuels Complex, Aalo plans to complete construction and achieve criticality for this reactor by July 4th, 2026.
The groundbreaking event -- coming just two weeks after Aalo was selected by the U.S. Department of Energy to participate in President Trump’s Nuclear Reactor Pilot Program – “underscores Aalo’s ability to move at incredible speed to meet the imminent market need for new reliable, scalable and safe energy sources to power the next generation of data centers,” it said.
The DOE announced the Reactor Pilot Program in June 2025, following President Trump’s Executive Order 14301, which reforms reactor testing at the Department. The goal of the Reactor Pilot Program is to expedite the testing of advanced reactor designs that will be authorized by the Department at sites outside the national laboratories.
The program represents an important step toward streamlining nuclear reactor testing and unleashes a new pathway toward fast-tracking commercial licensing activities. Aalo was selected for the program following a competitive Request for Applications process and aims to be the first recipient to begin construction on a test facility.
Aalo-X will be manufactured at Aalo’s 40,000 square foot pilot factory in Austin, Texas, before being transported to and installed at INL.
The Aalo-X is the precursor to the Aalo Pod which is expected to provide commercial power in 2029. The Aalo Pod is a 50 MWe XMR power plant purpose-built for data centers. Each Aalo Pod contains five Aalo-1 reactors, is fully modular (both the reactor and the plant) and can scale seamlessly to gigawatts.
“With a small physical footprint and no need for external water sources, the Aalo Pod is easy to collocate onsite with the data center. Aalo-1 reactors are factory built, sodium-cooled, and use proven, safe, readily available low-enriched uranium dioxide fuel,” the company said.
Company Secures Funding
Aalo Atomics recently secured $100M in Series B funding.
The funding is led by Valor Equity Partners with participation from new and existing investors including Fine Structure Ventures, Hitachi Ventures, NRG Energy, Vamos Ventures, Tishman Speyer, Kindred Ventures, 50Y, Harpoon Ventures, Crescent Enterprises, Crosscut, Alumni Ventures, MCJ, Gaingels, and Nucleation Capital, among others.
Aalo has raised more than $136 million to date and has completed its first full-scale non-nuclear prototype earlier this year with plans to finish construction on its first extra modular nuclear reactor (XMR) in 2026.
Aalo will use its new financing to double the size of its team, growing from roughly 60 employees to over 120 in the next year, with a focus on acquiring premium engineering and manufacturing talent.
In addition, Aalo has added several well-known executive leaders to its team in recent weeks, with deep expertise in public policy, regulatory environments, nuclear technology, and manufacturing. They include:
● Jimmy Glotfelty, former commissioner for the Public Utility Commission of Texas
● Bryson Gentile, former head of manufacturing on Falcon 9 at SpaceX
● Pete Gaillard, former head of regulatory affairs for TerraPower
● Nick Touran, formerly with TerraPower and founder of “What Is Nuclear?”
