Valar Atomics demonstrated a live Ward 250 nuclear microreactor powering an NVIDIA RTX Spark desktop PC on stage, and announced a partnership with NVIDIA to build a 30MW closed-loop AI data center requiring no local water consumption.

Valar Atomics activated its Ward 250 nuclear microreactor on stage during a live event, announcing a partnership with Nvidia to power a 30MW closed-loop AI factory. The company demonstrated its capability by plugging an Nvidia RTX desktop running Blackwell processors into the reactor at 37% power output, with the reactor then serving its website exclusively.

CEO Isiah Taylor explained the engineering on stage: "The Nvidia chip is now plugged into a circuit in the OCS. That circuit runs through a cable into the reactor hall, where 10 to 15th power uranium atoms are fissioning every second, producing 100 kilowatts of thermal energy. That thermal energy is being extracted by our cooling loop, a pressurized helium system, and the hot helium flows into a thermal electric generator (TEG). That TEG is creating the electrical current that's right now powering Nvidia's Blackwell chip, which is currently serving this website."

While Valar Atomics claims to be the first startup achieving power production with a nuclear microreactor, the Department of Energy notes that two other firms have also reached criticality: Deployable Energy's Unity and Antares Nuclear's Mark-0. Major tech companies including Amazon, Google, Microsoft, Nvidia, and Oracle have invested in nuclear technologies since early 2024, projecting that AI data centers would require massive power supplies.

Data center expansion has become a contentious issue as these facilities strain power grids, raise utility costs, and increase water consumption in surrounding communities. Seven out of ten Americans oppose building data centers in their neighborhoods, leading to delays or cancellations of at least 75 projects in the first quarter of 2026 alone. The public pressure is accelerating innovation on both fronts: small modular reactors like Valar Atomics' system will deliver power independently of the grid, while Amazon, Microsoft, and Nvidia are developing technologies to reduce data center water consumption by up to 100 percent, addressing projections that AI alone will consume 600 billion gallons of water by 2030.