Before long, Valar had emerged as what Mother Jones called ​“the Trump administration’s favorite nuclear startup.” A month later, the agency named the company as one of four to take part in a separate pilot program to develop new supply chains for nuclear fuel. Two months after that, Valar became the first venture-backed startup to split atoms using an experimental core at Los Alamos National Laboratory. In June, Valar split atoms with its prototype Ward 250, becoming the second company in the pilot program to do so. China started construction on its first major high-temperature gas-cooled reactor in 2012, and split atoms for the first time in 2021.