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Happy Tuesday.
The build this week: DOE's July 4 reactor deadline is forcing nuclear startups onto a public clock. Valar Atomics went critical in Utah on Monday, giving the pilot program its second startup and leaving the field one reactor short of the holiday target.
Elsewhere, Rocket Lab turned around a Space Force launch in about 16 hours, MDA Space bought into U.S. smallsat manufacturing, the Port of Virginia opened a 55-foot channel, UPS added pharma cold-chain capacity, and Groq confirmed another $650 million.
The Lead
Government deadlines usually slip, and nobody much notices when they do. This one is different: a clutch of startups are running flat out to beat it. Last year the President ordered the Energy Department to get at least three new American reactors switched on, or "critical" in the trade's term, by July 4, 2026, the country's 250th birthday. Rather than wait on the usual years of licensing, the department hand-picked ten companies and cleared them to build small test reactors on real sites, fast. Two have already crossed the line. A startup called Antares went first, firing up its reactor in early June at the Idaho national lab, and Valar Atomics followed a couple of weeks later in Utah, the first reactor ever run outside a government lab.
The catch is that both were zero-power demos: the chain reaction caught, but no electricity came out. The milestone that actually counts, a reactor running at power, is still up for grabs, and the field is bunched up behind it. The name to watch is Radiant, whose Kaleidos reactor is built to ship inside a standard container and roll off a factory line. It hasn't started up yet, but it cleared the second of three safety reviews this winter and is now in final checks for a fueled run at the Idaho lab's DOME test bay, aiming to get there by the Fourth. Aalo Atomics is right behind it, its test reactor assembled and weeks from switching on. And the startups are only half the bet. Earlier this month, the government pushed on the big reactors too, committing a conditional $17.5 billion in loans to rebuild the supply chain for ten full-size Westinghouse reactors, enough to power close to ten million homes. From a reactor in a shipping container to a multibillion-dollar revival of the giants, Washington is betting the whole board.
Defense & Space
Rocket Lab launched a Space Force satellite about 16 hours after the call-up, a record turnaround under its $32 million Victus Haze contract that turns responsive launch into a service the Pentagon can buy on demand.
MDA Space agreed to buy Colorado smallsat builder Blue Canyon for $620 million, giving the Canadian prime a U.S. manufacturing footprint for defense and intelligence spacecraft.
Semiconductors & Electronics
Groq confirmed a $650 million raise from existing investors as it restaffs its inference business and keeps pushing the chips-as-a-cloud model after Nvidia's roughly $20 billion deal pulled away its founders.
Manufacturing & Automation
Kawasaki Robotics debuted a 360-kilogram-payload industrial arm at Automate 2026, a heavy-duty machine aimed at the EV-battery and casting lines where reshoring creates the heaviest work.
Maritime & Logistics
Port of Virginia opened a 55-foot channel after a $450 million dredge, giving Norfolk the deepest harbor on the East Coast and another way to pull the largest container ships into Virginia.
UPS opened 27 temperature-controlled cross-docks in a $48 million pharma cold-chain expansion, chasing healthcare freight where reliability matters more than cheap lanes.
C.H. Robinson acquired DeSpir Logistics for $75 million, adding secure and high-value cargo capabilities after five years without a broker acquisition.
Dealbook
MDA Space agreed to buy Blue Canyon Technologies from RTX for $620 million in cash.
Groq confirmed $650 million in new funding from existing investors for its AI inference-chip and cloud business.
C.H. Robinson bought DeSpir Logistics for $75 million to expand high-value cargo capabilities.
Back Thursday.
