At Nuclear Woodstock, Developers Celebrate Rapid Advancements in Reactor Design

Radiant Energy Chief Executive Officer and Founder Doug Bernauer (L) and President Tori Shivanandan (R) pause for a selfie with U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright inside the NRIC Dome at Idaho National Laboratory on June 25, 2026. John Haughey/The Epoch TimesIDAHO FALLS, Idaho—With a third advanced nuclear reactor prototype in less than a month set to reach criticality next week, United States Energy Secretary Chris Wright projects that as many as five more first-of-kind reactors, including several that could fit in a pickup truck bed, will be federally cleared for commercial development in 2026.“One of the big goals,” Wright said at Idaho Falls’ Mountain America Center during the Department of Energy’s June 25 “Celebration of the Golden Era of Nuclear Power,” “is to get seven or eight of these reactors ‘critical’ by the end of this year. And there’s more that will come after that.”