Policy and licensing / United States (federal)
DOE Reactor Pilot Program
DOE programme opened in June 2025, with initial selections on 12 August 2025. DOE reports four zero-power criticality demonstrations under it by July 2026. A DOE authorization is not an NRC commercial licence.
- Category
- Funding and support programmes
- Status
- In effect
- Instrument
- authorization programme · DOE request for applications DE-FOA-0003569 (18 June 2025)
- Issued by
- U.S. Department of Energy
- Jurisdiction
- United States (federal)
- Affects
- DOE test-reactor authorization
- In effect from
- —
- Expiry or completion
- None recorded
- Operative text
- DOE Reactor Pilot Program page (DOE programme page)
- Last checked · next review
- 2026-10-03 · 2026-11-02
Legal and geographic scope
DOE pathway for building and operating test reactors outside the national laboratories under DOE authorization, which DOE presents as a way to fast-track later commercial licensing.
Not approved or still pending
Selection is not authorization to operate; each reactor needs its own DOE approvals, and commercial operation needs NRC licensing.
Dated lifecycle
- 2025-06-18 · Opened — Request for applications issued. (DOE Reactor Pilot Program page)
- 2025-08-12 · Selections announced — Initial selections: ten companies, Oklo with two projects. (DOE Reactor Pilot Program page)
- 2026-07 · Milestone — DOE reports four zero-power criticality demonstrations by July 2026. (DOE fact sheet: The Golden Era of American Nuclear Energy Has Arrived)
Related instruments
Projects or designs named by the source
- Antares Mark-0 at Idaho National Laboratory — DOE lists this reactor's criticality demonstration under the Reactor Pilot Program.
- Valar Atomics Ward 250 — DOE lists this reactor's criticality demonstration under the Reactor Pilot Program.
- Deployable Energy Unity at Idaho National Laboratory — DOE lists this reactor's criticality demonstration under the Reactor Pilot Program.
- Aalo-X at Idaho National Laboratory — DOE lists this reactor's criticality demonstration under the Reactor Pilot Program.
Sources
- DOE Reactor Pilot Program page (government_primary, accessed 2026-10-03)
- DOE fact sheet: The Golden Era of American Nuclear Energy Has Arrived (government_primary, accessed 2026-10-01)