US Army to spend $2 billion nuclear microreactors for bases

Called microreactors, developers say each of the nuclear plants would be easy to transport and provide up to 20 megawatts of power.

The reactors will adhere to all environmental and safety regulations that apply to commercial reactors, but an Army spokesperson said the reactors will be regulated by the Army rather than the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which regulates commercial reactors.

"The whole idea here is that at the back end of this we want a commercial product," said Jeff Waksman, principal deputy assistant secretary of the Army for Installations, Energy and Environment.

Army Secretary Dan Driscoll said the awards will speed up the military's ability "to deliver safe, reliable baseload power directly to our installations."

"We are building the energy resilience necessary to project combat power globally, without relying on potentially vulnerable external grids," he added.

Radiant's Chief Commercial Officer Mike Starrett told Reuters news agency that the project, called Janus, will help the company scale up its business to meet the needs of commercial customers, like data centers, in about 2030.

Rex Geveden, president and chief executive officer of BWXT, said, "As we commence work on the Janus program, we are delivering the nation's most credible and reliable path to deployable nuclear power."

Critics of microreactors say they will be expensive compared to conventional reactors. Safety advocates point out that nuclear technology carries significant risks that other low-carbon energy sources don't, such as the danger of accidents or targeted attacks.

The Army program uses the military's "deep pockets to provide a hidden subsidy" to nuclear companies that can't find private-sector customers for their hypothetical and uneconomical reactors, Alan J. Kuperman, associate professor at the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin and coordinator of the Nuclear Proliferation Prevention Project, told the AP news agency.

The Army's Waksman said nobody thinks that microreactors will be lower in cost than conventional plants.

"What we are trying to do here with Janus ... is to flesh out how can we get those prices down," he said.

Waksman said the microreactors would safely shut down in case of a failure and that the Army wouldn't add them to installations without being certain they are safe.

He added that the Army is working on a deal with the Energy Department to remove radioactive waste, and there won't be any long-term storage on these installations.

Last month, five states offered to accept nuclear waste in exchange for federal support in developing nuclear energy facilities.