Army Awards $2.2B for Nuclear Reactors on Bases

The U.S. Army said Wednesday it will award up to $2.2 billion to five companies to build, own and operate nuclear microreactors at five stateside bases — its biggest bet yet on powering installations without the civilian grid.

The contracts fall under Project Janus, run with the Defense Innovation Unit. The Army says the money is paid only "after successfully hitting specific technical goals," and expects the companies to put in billions of their own on top.

The pairings: Antares Nuclear at Fort Bragg, North Carolina; BWXT Advanced Technologies at Fort Campbell, Kentucky; General Atomics Electromagnetic Systems at Fort Hood, Texas; Radiant Industries at Fort Benning, Georgia; and Westinghouse Government Services at Fort Drum, New York.

Why the Army Wants It

Every piece of critical Army infrastructure today is backed up by liquid fossil fuel, mostly diesel — a supply line that can be cut.

"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," said Jeff Waksman, the Army's principal deputy assistant secretary for installations, energy and environment. "So that makes nuclear energy just a natural game changer for the Army."

Microreactors can run for years without refueling. All five bases stay connected to their local grids, and officials said the reactors will supply "resilient power to critical infrastructure" on base — not 100% of what the installations use.

The Numbers

Officials expect more than 20 microreactors across the five installations over the next five years, with private investment layered on top of the federal money.

Radiant Industries said its agreement runs up to $750 million to deploy 15 microreactors of roughly 1 megawatt each by 2030 — the largest award in the program. The Army would not confirm the individual award amounts or reactor counts.

For scale: traditional reactors can generate up to 1,000 megawatts and small modular reactors up to about 300. Microreactors typically top out around 50 megawatts, and some in Janus will be as small as 1 megawatt — enough for roughly 400 to 900 homes. General Atomics' 5-megawatt design is built for a 40-year life.

The Catches

There is no signed nuclear waste deal. Waksman said no long-term waste will be stored on site and all waste will be removed within two years of a reactor shutting down, but the agreement with the Energy Department is not final. "We don't have that fully signed and agreed to yet, but the intent is to have a deal with the Department of Energy where the waste would go to a DOE site," he said.

There is also a fuel problem. The United States enriches only a small share of the world's uranium, and Energy Department and National Nuclear Security Administration efforts to produce high-assay low-enriched uranium are still ramping up. Waksman conceded the program is "probably going to push beyond what our supplies are as a nation," while saying he expects "sufficient prioritization to ensure that we have the uranium that we need for our fastest moving reactors."

And no one has done this yet. "There's a reason no one has actually built a fully operational commercial nuclear microreactor before," Waksman said, explaining why the Army picked easy domestic sites first rather than overseas outposts.