As part of the U.S. Department of Defense's Janus program, microreactors will be deployed at five military bases. The total cost of these activities is $2.2 billion, which will be divided between five companies, each of which will manufacture and install microreactor (s) on one base.
According to the U.S. Army, Antares Nuclear will develop a microreactor — or microreactors — at Fort Bragg, North Carolina; BWXT Advanced Technologies at Fort Campbell, Kentucky; General Atomics Electronagnetic Systems at Fort Hood, Texas; Radiant Industries at Fort Benning, Georgia; and Westinghouse Government Services at Fort Drum, New York.
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The contract stipulates that the work will be carried out during the 2027-2031 fiscal years. At the same time, the target date for the first such nuclear microreactor to be put into operation is 2028.
The order for five separate prototypes of nuclear microreactors will apparently allow the Pentagon to gain experience in operating various solutions in order to select the best offers. At the same time, the reactors will belong to the companies themselves and will be operated directly by them.
In total, the U.S. Army plans to order more than 20 such nuclear microreactors. The reason for such activity of the U.S. military in the field of nuclear energy was explained as clearly as possible by Jeff Waksman, principal deputy assistant secretary of the Army for Infrastructure, Energy and Environment.
"Unlike in prior conflicts, we now know that our domestic electric grid is potentially at risk in a conflict. We also know that we will not necessarily be able to move fossil fuels easily wherever we need them to go. Right now, all critical infrastructure that the Army has is backed up by some form of liquid fossil fuel, primarily diesel," Jeff Waksman stated at a Wednesday, August 26, media briefing, as quoted by Defense News.
According to the U.S. Army representative, outside of the continental U.S., the threat remains, as U.S. interests often rely on international ships.
"We’re often dependent. In a lot of our Pacific islands, we’re dependent on foreign-shipped fuel from foreign-flagged vessels, and that doesn’t give us a lot of comfort if there were to be a future conflict," Jeff Waxman told at the briefing.
On the part of Defense Express, we would like to remind you that such microreactors can even be air-transportable. This was proven in practice during Operation Windlord, when a Ward 250 reactor with a capacity of up to 5 MW was transported by C-17 Globemaster III airlifter.
As Defense Express reported, USS Nimitz retirement was delayed to 2027.
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