2026-10-15 (first record): DOE approved cost-shared ARDP funding to accelerate MCRE development, first criticality aimed in 2027 (WNN, ~9:13 AM ET Oct 15 — world-nuclear-news.org/articles). No awardee names, dollar amounts, or site detail in the reporting. Watch: awardee identification, funding split, construction milestones vs the 2027 criticality aim.
2026-10-15 (same-day addendum, partners identified): Southern Company and Core Power announced on Oct 14, 2026 that DOE approved cost-shared ARDP funding for an accelerated final stage of the MCRE, conducted in collaboration with Idaho National Laboratory; MCRE could achieve criticality as early as 2027 — a would-be world-first for fast-spectrum molten chloride salt reactors (ANS, ~2:30 PM ET Oct 15 — ans.org/news). Resolves the entry's "awardee identification" watch item; funding split and dollar figures still not stated.
The thread: DOE's Advanced Reactor Demonstration Program adding cost-shared funding for the Molten Chloride Reactor Experiment, which aims for first criticality in 2027 — the chloride fast-spectrum test-reactor lane's dated near-term gate.