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Microreactor criticality milestones fuel Nuclear Renaissance. Westinghouse, which is 49% owned by Cameco Corp. (CCJ), recently achieved initial criticality for its eVinci microreactor this month, marking a notable milestone for advanced nuclear deployment. Key takeaways. * Westinghouse completed zero-power criticality testing for its 5 MWe eVinci microreactor at the Nevada National Security Site alongside DOE national laboratories. * Advanced nuclear developers continue pushing reactor designs through core iteration beyond the federal government's July 4 criticality target. * The Range Nuclear Renaissance ETF (NUKZ) captures pure-play exposure across next-generation reactor design and commercialization. Reactor iteration accelerates beyond initial goals. Westinghouse conducted the test in partnership with Los Alamos National Laboratory and Idaho National Laboratory. It validates core design assumptions and modeling for Westinghouse's heat pipe-cooled microreactor. The milestone follows Oklo's (OKLO) recent regulatory and operational progress on its radioisotope and fast-reactor designs, underscoring accelerating core reactor progress. While the broader industry celebrated the July 4 criticality goal set by executive mandates, private reactor design iteration and development remain robust. Advanced reactor developers are partnering with national labs. These collaborations build the foundation for scalable commercial rollouts to satisfy surging data center and industrial power demand. Investing in advanced microreactor deployment via NUKZ. For investors tracking the nuclear energy renaissance, nuclear deployment represents a long-term thematic growth driver. Oklo and Cameco are holdings of the Range Nuclear Renaissance ETF (NUKZ), which provides targeted exposure across the entire nuclear value chain. NUKZ delivers exposure to nuclear segments including advanced reactor developers, utilities, construction services, and fuel providers. As regulatory frameworks modernize and utility-scale microreactors move toward commercial deployment, index-based strategies like NUKZ allow advisors to capture broad supply-chain upside while mitigating single-company regulatory risk. vettafi.com is owned by VettaFi LLC ("VettaFi"). VettaFi is the index provider for NUKZ, for which it receives an index licensing fee. However, NUKZ is not issued, sponsored, endorsed, or sold by VettaFi. VettaFi has no obligation or liability related to the issuance, administration, marketing, or trading of NUKZ. Related topics.

Westinghouse robot Elektro finds permanent home at industrial museum. Mansfield News Journal Aug. 28, 2026, 12:03 p.m. ET Elektro, the newly restored Westinghouse robot, has found a permanent home at the North Central Ohio Industrial Museum inside the Ohio State Reformatory. On Aug. 27, a ribbon cutting for Elektro was held at 4:30 p.m. in the industrial museum before the NCOIM's annual Champions of Industry dinner and program. In 2025, the famous robot Elektro, made in the late 1930s at the Westinghouse Plant in Mansfield, was returned to its creators, the Weeks family of Hoover Instruments.John Weeks helped design Elektro in the late 1930s at the Westinghouse Plant. Westinghouse introduced Elektro at the 1939 World's Fair in New York City. Westinghouse created a full-length movie titled, "The Middletons Go to the Fair."John Week's son, Jack, found and rebuilt Elektro in the 2000s and loaned it to the Mansfield Memorial Museum. In 2023, the fate of Elektro remained in limbo following the closure of the Mansfield Memorial Museum in 2023 after curator Scott Schaut died. A complicated probate court case has kept the museum temporarily closed. "Their goal from the beginning was to have a human-form robot like Elektro in every person's home as a helper," Schaut told the News Journal in 2019. Elektro is known as the oldest surviving robot in the world, Schaut said. It could walk, talk and smoke a cigarette, bringing delight to the tens of thousands who watched him in action during the World's Fair. The robot has moved around in the past two decades. John Weeks said his grandfather by the same name, John, was an engineer at Westinghouse, who helped build the robot with fellow Westinghouse employee Harold Gorsuch. "He (his uncle) donated it to the museum with the intent for it to stay here in Mansfield," John Weeks said. The Weeks family has been working on Elektro, and the robot will speak with the help of AI. "The camera in the eye will do the facial recognition, and it will be able to do the audio and answer questions," Weeks said earlier. The 7-foot-tall robots (original and replica) were delivered to the industrial museum on Aug. 27. A display area will be built this winter for the robot, NCOID Executive Director Jerry Miller said. Two Elektro robots are on display, the (silver) original and the (gold) replica, the latter made by Schaut, who wrote a book about Elektro. Rose Weeks, whose grandfather designed the robot, spoke during the ribbon cutting. In his 87 years, Rose Weeks said Elektro was in the public eye a couple of decades and spent a lot of time waiting in storage, usually in pieces. "Elektro was made to interact with humans. He was made to be seen," she said. "He's a marvel of engineering." She said the Weeks family wants Elektro where people can see him, learn from him and be inspired by him. The museum contains numerous Westinghouse appliances and memorabilia. "This museum is a good fit for Elektro because these are his people," Rose Weeks said. "Jerry (Miller) and his team are the experts on everything Westinghouse and on Mansfield's manufacturing history." Contact Lou Whitmire at 419-521-7223. She can be reached on X: @LWhitmir.

U.S. Army awards $2.2 billion to five companies to build nuclear microreactors at military bases. The U.S. Army awarded $2.2B to five companies including BWX Technologies and Westinghouse to build nuclear microreactors at military bases by 2028. By Trader Edge August 27, 2026 3 Mins Read Tldr. * The U.S. Army selected five companies to build nuclear microreactors at military bases, with the first expected online by September 2028. * The government will spend up to $2.2 billion on at least 20 microreactors across five bases. * Companies involved include BWX Technologies, Westinghouse, General Atomics, Radiant Industries, and Antares Nuclear. * Venture capital is pouring into the sector, with startups like Valar Atomics raising $1 billion at a $6 billion valuation. * Critics warn that security costs and permitting make commercial microreactor deployment economically difficult. The U.S. Army has awarded contracts worth up to $2.2 billion to five companies to build nuclear microreactors at military bases across the country. The first reactor is expected to be operational by September 2028. The program, called the Janus Program, was launched last year and is named after the Roman god of transitions. It is designed to give military installations a reliable power source that doesn't depend on the commercial electric grid. Army Secretary Dan Driscoll said the move is about energy resilience. "We are building the energy resilience necessary to project combat power globally, without relying on potentially vulnerable external grids," he said. The five selected companies will build reactors at specific bases. Antares Nuclear will work at Fort Bragg in North Carolina. BWX Technologies will go to Fort Campbell in Kentucky. General Atomics Electromagnetic Systems will build at Fort Hood in Texas. Radiant Industries will work at Fort Benning in Georgia, with a contract worth up to $750 million for up to 15 reactors. Westinghouse Government Services will build at Fort Drum in New York. Each reactor will produce between 1 and 20 megawatts of power, depending on the design. The bases will stay connected to the main grid. The reactors will not fully power them. Why the military is interested. The Army currently relies on diesel for backup power. In a conflict, moving fuel to remote locations is a challenge. Nuclear microreactors can run for years without refueling, making them a practical option for the military. Unlike large nuclear plants, microreactors can be built in a factory and transported to a site. They are much cheaper to build than large reactors, which can cost over $10 billion each and take a decade to construct. Some designs, like those from Radiant and Valar Atomics, use helium gas cooling instead of water. This is considered safer and reduces the risk of meltdowns. Private investment is growing. Venture capital is following the government money. Radiant has raised over $500 million from investors including Andreessen Horowitz and is valued at $1.9 billion. Valar Atomics raised $1 billion earlier this month at a $6 billion valuation. Antares raised $370 million last month. A few microreactor companies have already gone public. Nano Nuclear is valued at around $1 billion. Terra Innovatum sits at $625 million. Deep Fission is near $400 million. Investors are betting that military contracts will prove the technology works and open doors to commercial buyers, including AI data centers that need large amounts of power quickly. Not everyone is convinced. Critics say security costs alone make remote commercial deployment uneconomical. A nuclear reactor requires 24-hour armed security, which is cost-effective on a military base but not at a remote civilian site. Some analysts also point to permitting costs as a barrier. The Army expects private capital investment to run into the billions alongside federal funding. Stop guessing and start investing with confidence. KnockoutStocks gives you the AI insights, market intelligence, and stock research you need to spot opportunities, cut through the noise, and make smarter investment decisions - all in one powerful platform. Simply use coupon code SPECIAL50 at checkout to claim your exclusive discount. Limited Time Offer Get 3 free stock ebooks. Discover top-performing stocks in AI, Crypto, and Technology with expert analysis. * Top 10 AI Stocks - Leading AI companies * Top 10 Crypto Stocks - Blockchain leaders * Top 10 Tech Stocks - Tech giants