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Valar calls itself 'very open and transparent', pointing to its photos and video; of its Ward 250 safety papers, two were found published, and the others, most listed for DOE review, were not found in public records

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2026-06-28 · safe-040 · Valar Atomics

In its unlisted 'Ward 250 By the Numbers' page (28 June 2026), Valar says its beliefs have led it to be 'a very open and transparent company', that its reactor has been more photographed and filmed than any other in history, and that it is sharing raw data to be refined by internal and external peer review over the following weeks. The page still contains placeholders ('July XX', '[xxx]') and one chart, 'Reactor Power Ascension', which plots an unlabeled 'Q_Total' on a 0-100 scale and thermocouple readings of about 30-80 F against a 'sample index', with no power units, dates or time scale, so it cannot be used to check the power reached. Of the safety documents the NSDA and DOE records name for Ward 250, two were found published by Valar: the NSDA (marked 'Draft', though the Valar page that posts it says DOE has approved it) and the QA Program Description. Not found among Valar's published documents as of late September 2026: the PDSA, final DSA and Technical Safety Requirements, the Code of Record (document 100437), the startup and commissioning plan, the radiation protection program (DOE's categorical exclusion summarizes its dose limits), the transport QA program (document 100719, which DOE approved) and any emergency plan (the NSDA proposes on-site emergency response only, with no off-site planning, coordinated with local responders). The NSDA lists the safety analyses, operating limits, startup plan and safety programs as submittals to DOE; no requirement to post them publicly was found in the NSDA or in DOE's authorization standard, DOE-STD-1271. The Physical Security Plan and Material Control and Accountability Plan are security documents, which the NSDA calls separate controlled documents. County and state officials praised Valar's openness at the Trust Lands hearings.

In plain termsValar describes itself as unusually open, and it has published many photos and videos. The safety documents are a different matter: of the documents that define how the reactor is kept safe, we found two the public can read, and one is labeled a draft, though Valar says DOE approved it; the others were prepared for DOE's review. Some documents, like security plans, are normally kept private. The safety analysis and operating limits are not security plans; they can be requested from DOE under FOIA (safe-007).
verified 2026-10-02: Re-read 'By the Numbers' (single embedded image, the 'Reactor Power Ascension' chart, read from the image: Q_Total 0-100 with no units, thermocouples about 30-80 F, x-axis 'Sample index'), NSDA and QA Approval 0049 in late September 2026. Holds. Softened 'has published two' to 'two were found published': Valar's docs library page as posted lists five posts and no safety documents, so a complete inventory could not be made. Corrected 2026-09-30: reworded the plain-language text.

In tabs: Safety Related Issues, Public Process, Origins