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Matt Loszak

@MattLoszak • 27,218 subscribers

Cofounder & CEO @AaloAtomics. Mass-manufactured nuclear plants. Showing the world that nuclear is incredible. Past: Engineering, Physics, Software.

Shorts

Can nuclear get below 2 - 3 c/kWh? Most people think it's impossible, so we built an interactive cost model to debate on a more granular level. Here's what must be true, line by line, for < 3 c/kWh nuclear. In my view it's surprisingly feasible... 👇🧵

Can nuclear get below 2 - 3 c/kWh? Most people think it's impossible, so we built an interactive cost model to debate on a more granular level. Here's what must be true, line by line, for < 3 c/kWh nuclear. In my view it's surprisingly feasible... 👇🧵

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Videos

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Very excited to announce that at 12:20am on the 4th of July, Aalo achieved criticality on our first full-scale reactor. We cut it close, but we pulled it off!! Working towards this goal with such an incredible group of humans has been the most fulfilling period of my life. This moment has been three years in the making. Last year, Executive Order 14301 called for at least three new reactors to go critical before July 4th, 2026. As of late last Friday night, that goal has been surpassed! When the EO was announced, we immediately sat down to figure out what the most ambitious scope would be, while still being potentially achievable by July 4th. Some of the team proposed doing simplified designs with smaller fuel loads, or building in existing facilities. One thing was clear: We wouldn't have time to integrate a full-scale sodium heat-removal loop to bring the reactor to its full 30 MWt. So here’s where we landed: ➡️ We purchased the entire commercial-scale fuel load. This is enough fuel to operate at 30 MWt / 10 MWe for 3 years before refueling. To my knowledge, it’s the largest fuel load that’s been taken critical in the DOE pilot program, by far. ➡️ We built a full-scale reactor vessel in our factory, and loaded in our commercial graphite layout. All the dimensions, vessel thickness, and manufacturing techniques are essentially the same as we will use for the imminent commercial version. There will be a few minor tweaks for sodium flow and full-power, but nothing major. ➡️ We built an entirely new reactor facility at the Idaho National Lab. Building a building is easy. Building a new reactor facility comes with a mountain of paperwork, policies, operation and training procedures, security, instrumentation and control, and more. Zero-power criticality might seem like a small step, but I can tell you, going through the exercise of building a reactor and taking it to criticality has been extremely valuable. The learnings on regulatory, ops, manufacturing, supply chain, QA, economics, engineering, and design will accelerate our path through to the final iteration at full-power. America is blessed to have a recent Cambrian explosion of startups in nuclear, all going after different markets, technologies, and strategies. I’m excited that sodium, gas, salt, and new PWRs are all getting pushed forward once again. The best outcome for humanity is to have all these advance in parallel, as quickly as possible, while maintaining safety. Thanks again to our amazing team, DOE, INL, BEA, and everyone else who helped us get to where we are today. This could not have happened anywhere else. Happy birthday, America!! 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸 There has never been a better time for nuclear energy. The Second Atomic Age has begun, and this one will be here to stay.

Very excited to announce that at 12:20am on the 4th of July, Aalo achieved criticality on our first full-scale reactor. We cut it close, but we pulled it off!! Working towards this goal with such an incredible group of humans has been the most fulfilling period of my life. This moment has been three years in the making. Last year, Executive Order 14301 called for at least three new reactors to go critical before July 4th, 2026. As of late last Friday night, that goal has been surpassed! When the EO was announced, we immediately sat down to figure out what the most ambitious scope would be, while still being potentially achievable by July 4th. Some of the team proposed doing simplified designs with smaller fuel loads, or building in existing facilities. One thing was clear: We wouldn't have time to integrate a full-scale sodium heat-removal loop to bring the reactor to its full 30 MWt. So here’s where we landed: ➡️ We purchased the entire commercial-scale fuel load. This is enough fuel to operate at 30 MWt / 10 MWe for 3 years before refueling. To my knowledge, it’s the largest fuel load that’s been taken critical in the DOE pilot program, by far. ➡️ We built a full-scale reactor vessel in our factory, and loaded in our commercial graphite layout. All the dimensions, vessel thickness, and manufacturing techniques are essentially the same as we will use for the imminent commercial version. There will be a few minor tweaks for sodium flow and full-power, but nothing major. ➡️ We built an entirely new reactor facility at the Idaho National Lab. Building a building is easy. Building a new reactor facility comes with a mountain of paperwork, policies, operation and training procedures, security, instrumentation and control, and more. Zero-power criticality might seem like a small step, but I can tell you, going through the exercise of building a reactor and taking it to criticality has been extremely valuable. The learnings on regulatory, ops, manufacturing, supply chain, QA, economics, engineering, and design will accelerate our path through to the final iteration at full-power. America is blessed to have a recent Cambrian explosion of startups in nuclear, all going after different markets, technologies, and strategies. I’m excited that sodium, gas, salt, and new PWRs are all getting pushed forward once again. The best outcome for humanity is to have all these advance in parallel, as quickly as possible, while maintaining safety. Thanks again to our amazing team, DOE, INL, BEA, and everyone else who helped us get to where we are today. This could not have happened anywhere else. Happy birthday, America!! 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸 There has never been a better time for nuclear energy. The Second Atomic Age has begun, and this one will be here to stay.

468,365 views • 21 days ago

PS, our crack marketing team also updated the website this week and it might be the coolest thing I've ever seen.

PS, our crack marketing team also updated the website this week and it might be the coolest thing I've ever seen.

79,678 views • 19 days ago

Tomorrow is a big day for Aalo, and the future of clean energy on Earth.

Tomorrow is a big day for Aalo, and the future of clean energy on Earth.

77,696 views • 25 days ago

Not sure why I was so out of breath (it was probably all the screaming) but here is my speech from after we achieved criticality. To the second atomic age!!

Not sure why I was so out of breath (it was probably all the screaming) but here is my speech from after we achieved criticality. To the second atomic age!!

42,878 views • 18 days ago

When EBR-II scientists reflected on shutting it down, they cried. They had demonstrated a reactor with "walk away" safety, the ability to use nuclear waste as fuel, and just how economical sodium cooled reactors could be. But they had to shut it down. The story in videos: 🧵

When EBR-II scientists reflected on shutting it down, they cried. They had demonstrated a reactor with "walk away" safety, the ability to use nuclear waste as fuel, and just how economical sodium cooled reactors could be. But they had to shut it down. The story in videos: 🧵

30,580 views • 17 days ago

The full stream of our criticality event is 5 hours long. So we made a 30 minute highlight reel! Watch below.

The full stream of our criticality event is 5 hours long. So we made a 30 minute highlight reel! Watch below.

28,867 views • 20 days ago

Reactor vlog and status update

Reactor vlog and status update

24,969 views • 27 days ago

We love to see it

We love to see it

413,436 views • 2 years ago

NEW VIDEO At Aalo, we're using AI to build nuclear faster. And the more nuclear we deploy to power data centers, the better AI will get. A positive reinforcement loop is incoming. A few ways we're using AI: ➡️ Aalo Bot attends every meeting, listens, and soon will be able to talk. We'll ask it questions like "would this design change work given all the constraints you've heard from other teams?" or "what are the most pressing blockers for the company right now, stack ranked?", and more. ➡️ We're using AI to write software across the entire company. Not just replacing SaaS, but AI is also currently writing the code to automate physical robotic work done in our factory, including welding. This will unlock a scale of production and consistency of quality beyond what’s been possible in nuclear in the past. The video below features Gregory Wildes and Russell Rowland, along with some of the work Rob Kessler has been doing behind the scenes. Enjoy!

NEW VIDEO At Aalo, we're using AI to build nuclear faster. And the more nuclear we deploy to power data centers, the better AI will get. A positive reinforcement loop is incoming. A few ways we're using AI: ➡️ Aalo Bot attends every meeting, listens, and soon will be able to talk. We'll ask it questions like "would this design change work given all the constraints you've heard from other teams?" or "what are the most pressing blockers for the company right now, stack ranked?", and more. ➡️ We're using AI to write software across the entire company. Not just replacing SaaS, but AI is also currently writing the code to automate physical robotic work done in our factory, including welding. This will unlock a scale of production and consistency of quality beyond what’s been possible in nuclear in the past. The video below features Gregory Wildes and Russell Rowland, along with some of the work Rob Kessler has been doing behind the scenes. Enjoy!

16,293 views • 1 month ago

We've officially secured land at INL to construct and test the Aalo-X nuclear plant next year 🎉 Here's a little preview of what it will look like:

We've officially secured land at INL to construct and test the Aalo-X nuclear plant next year 🎉 Here's a little preview of what it will look like:

41,962 views • 1 year ago

This nuclear fuel (UZrH) has an incredible property: It can't melt itself down. But why isn't it used in reactors everywhere? In this video, we visit UT Austin's UZrH nuclear reactor and put it to the test: we actually TRY to make it melt down. Then we explore the history of UZrH, the challenges of using it in a power-generating reactor, and the upside if these challenges are overcome. cc Aalo Atomics Yasir Arafat Christian Keil

This nuclear fuel (UZrH) has an incredible property: It can't melt itself down. But why isn't it used in reactors everywhere? In this video, we visit UT Austin's UZrH nuclear reactor and put it to the test: we actually TRY to make it melt down. Then we explore the history of UZrH, the challenges of using it in a power-generating reactor, and the upside if these challenges are overcome. cc Aalo Atomics Yasir Arafat Christian Keil

24,896 views • 1 year ago

Here's a small sample of our Monday unveiling. Full video will be posted to YouTube soon! Obviously we're just getting started and have a lot of work to do, but this was a super fun event for the whole team to showcase the hard work thus far. Can't wait for what's coming!

Here's a small sample of our Monday unveiling. Full video will be posted to YouTube soon! Obviously we're just getting started and have a lot of work to do, but this was a super fun event for the whole team to showcase the hard work thus far. Can't wait for what's coming!

10,668 views • 1 year ago

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