Reactor criticality, states’ new nuclear plans among NECX 2026 highlights

The second day of the Nuclear Energy Conference & Expo (NECX 2026) kicked off with success stories on the start-up and state levels. In Wednesday’s opening plenary session, representatives of three of the four companies that reached criticality on or before Executive Order 14301’s July 4 target date—Aalo Atomics, Antares Nuclear, and Deployable Energy—talked about the run-up to meeting the…