VALAR WATCHTake action

As reported, Carbon commissioners called Ward 250 a 'commercial reactor' and the planned data center waterless; Valar calls Ward 250 a research reactor and has called the data center both waterless and low-water

official statementreported
2026-07-01 · loc-005 · Jared Haddock, Tony Martines, Carbon County Commission, Valar Atomics, NVIDIA

ETV News (3 July 2026) reported the Carbon County Commission meeting of Wednesday 1 July 2026 (ETV's text gives 'June 2' and 'June 1', but its publication date, the fire restrictions ahead of the Fourth of July and the NVIDIA announcement place it on 1 July; the commission's 1 July minutes record the same celebration (csite-026) and record Commissioner Haddock saying Valar had announced a data center partnership, one 'that will run without any water'). As ETV reported it, Commissioner Jared Haddock described Ward 250 as having recently become 'the first government-approved commercial reactor' to achieve a self-sustaining reaction outside a federal lab, and Commissioner Tony Martines said that because Valar's reactor is gas-cooled and NVIDIA's chips are air-cooled, the planned data center won't need water. Set beside the record: Valar's own February 2026 release says Ward 250 is a research reactor and 'not a commercial power plant'; DOE's pilot is for research and 'not' to demonstrate commercial suitability; DOE's 'first DOE authorized reactor built outside of a national laboratory' holds (orig-010). On water, Valar's account as ETV reported it was that the data center would use a closed-loop cooling system 'designed for low water consumption' and that it already had the water it needs, while seeking up to 1,000 more shares for other projects (ETV, 28 July). The part about being first outside a federal lab holds; 'commercial' goes beyond what Valar and DOE say. The commissioners' no-water description matches Valar's own 4 August 2026 release, which calls the planned data center 'a waterless 30 MW AI factory'.

In plain termsTwo Carbon County commissioners, speaking at a public meeting as the local paper reported it, described Valar's test reactor as a 'commercial' reactor and its planned data center as needing no water. The officials' description, as reported, differs from Valar's own on the reactor: Valar calls Ward 250 a research reactor that is not a commercial power plant. On water, Valar has described the data center both as waterless (in its own August 2026 announcement) and as designed for low water use (as the local paper reported in late July).
verified 2026-10-02: Re-read ETV 3 July, the Feb 2026 Valar release and ETV 28 July: holds as ETV's paraphrase. Plain field now says 'as reported'. Revised before publication (late September 2026): the comparison is restated as a plain difference.

In tabs: Carbon & Emery, People, Safety Related Issues, Operations