All articles tagged with #criticality
Three DOE-backed microreactors have reached criticality—Unity by Deployable Energy, plus Antares and Valar Atomics—marking a milestone in demonstrating compact reactors for powering data centers and other high-demand loads; however, experts say criticality is only an early step and scaling, HALEU fuel supply, financing, and NRC licensing remain major hurdles before any commercial deployment.
Three startups in the DOE’s pilot program have turned on new reactors and reached criticality, a milestone meant to jump‑start a new wave of small modular reactors and carbon‑free power. While the speed is aided by regulatory cuts and lab support, experts caution these are test reactors, not commercial products, and licensing, fuel supply, and cost hurdles still loom before any grid deployment—despite Valar Atomics’ criticality demonstrations (even powering an Nvidia chip) and other pilots aiming to be critical soon, including Antares Nuclear and Deployable Energy; Aalo Atomics has yet to hit criticality.
Three U.S. advanced reactors backed by the Energy Department have reached criticality, meeting a July 4 target and signaling progress toward a nuclear renaissance, with Deployable Energy’s unit the third to go critical and Aalo Atomics expected to follow. While DOE touts momentum and the potential for quicker development, experts say commercial deployment could still take years due to licensing by the NRC, fuel supply challenges (HALEU), and financing hurdles, though a proposed rule could speed up regulatory reviews for approved designs.
The Energy Department says Antares Nuclear’s microreactor at Idaho National Laboratory has reached criticality, marking the first private company to achieve this milestone under a Trump-era pilot program to accelerate advanced reactors. Antares aims to begin electricity generation by late 2027 and deploy systems by 2028, as regulators push to speed development amid ongoing safety debates and a broader push to expand U.S. nuclear power.
Antares' Mark 0 small modular reactor, based on TRISO fuel, reached criticality at Idaho National Laboratory—the first new nuclear design to do so under a DOE push to accelerate development. The test is non-power-generating and aims to validate physics and safety data for licensing; full power generation is expected next year, with DoD’s Project Pele and NASA backing the effort.
A small MEG study of 12 Theravada monk meditators finds two meditation methods shape brain activity differently: Samatha yields a stable, focused state, while Vipassana nudges the brain toward 'criticality'—an optimal balance between chaos and order that may enhance information processing and learning. Experienced meditators show brain activity closer to resting patterns, gamma oscillations can decrease (suggesting less external processing), and some practitioners report anxiety or other drawbacks. The findings contribute to understanding how meditation reshapes neural dynamics and were published in Neuroscience of Consciousness (2025).
This study demonstrates that human neural organoids develop key features necessary for basic learning and memory, including synaptic plasticity, functional connectivity, and critical neural dynamics, making them promising models for studying brain function and disorders.
New research proposes that the brain operates optimally at a critical state between order and chaos, which is essential for learning and cognition. Disruption of this criticality, such as by tau protein buildup in Alzheimer's, impairs brain function, but sleep appears to restore it, offering potential for early diagnosis and intervention. The theory unifies physics and biology to better understand brain health and disease.
Criticality incidents, where accidental nuclear chain reactions occur, highlight the dangers of mishandling fissionable materials. Notable incidents include the 1958 Los Alamos accident and the 1999 Tokaimura disaster, both resulting from improper handling and excessive accumulation of nuclear material. These events underscore the importance of strict safety protocols and constant vigilance in nuclear operations to prevent catastrophic outcomes.
Researchers at Northwestern University have found that the structural features of brains from humans, mice, and fruit flies are near a critical point similar to a phase transition, suggesting a universal principle may govern brain structure. This discovery could lead to new computational models that emulate brain complexity, as the brain's structure appears to be in a delicate balance between two phases, exhibiting fractal-like patterns and other hallmarks of criticality.
A new study proposes that the primary function of sleep is to reset the brain's computational state to achieve "criticality," a state that optimizes thinking and information processing by balancing order and chaos in neural activity. This challenges the notion that sleep merely replenishes chemicals and presents a compelling theory for the fundamental role of sleep in our lives. The study, which tracked brain activity in sleeping rats, bridges physics and biology, highlighting the complex, wondrous nature of the brain's neural networks.
New research using DishBrain, a collection of 800,000 human neural cells learning to play Pong, provides strong evidence in support of the critical brain hypothesis. The study shows that when neurons receive task-related sensory input, they enter a near-critical state, where tiny inputs can trigger "avalanches" of brain activity. This state is crucial for complex behaviors and task performance. However, criticality alone is not enough for learning; a feedback loop providing information about the consequences of actions is also necessary. The research has implications for understanding brain diseases, developing brain-computer interfaces, and exploring real brain function.