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An artist’s conception of a nuclear microreactor. (Graphic by Breaking Defense; original image credit Idaho National Labs)

WASHINGTON: The Pentagon today announced that Idaho National Labs will build and initially operate a type of mobile “nuclear microreactor” designed to help power its ever-more-electrified military machine.

Project Pele, a project under the Strategic Capabilities Office, will be the first electricity-generating Generation IV nuclear reactor built in the US, following Chinese success in the field last year. The US version is designed to deliver one to five megawatts of electrical power for a minimum of three years, according to the press release. 

“The DoD uses approximately 30 terawatt-hours of electricity per year and more than 10 million gallons of fuel per day — levels that are only expected to increase due to anticipated electrification of the non-tactical vehicle fleet and maturation of future energy-intensive capabilities,” according to the press release. “A safe, small, transportable nuclear reactor would address this growing demand with a resilient, carbon-free energy source that would not add to the DoD’s fuel needs, while supporting mission-critical operations in remote and austere environments.”

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According to the Department of Energy, a nuclear microreactor can be small enough to be transported by truck.

The SCO is still considering engineering designs by BWXT Advanced Technologies, LLC, and X-energy, LLC. One design will be selected and announced this spring. 

According to the press release, in March 2020, Project Pele announced a notice of intent to conduct an environment analysis in accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) at the same time the SCO kicked off a two-year microreactor design program. The NEPA enveloped “in scope all possible reactor designs allowed under Pele’s technical requirements.”

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Jeff Waksman, Project Pele program manager, said in a statement DoD is “confident that an inherently safe by design mobile microreactor can be constructed and demonstrated safely at Idaho National Laboratory.”  

In an April 2020 interview with Breaking Defense, Waksman said the project evolved out of a growing need for energy. Congress asked DoD and the DoD to explore Project Pele after the Defense Science Board in 2018 published a report arguing the energy logistics chain was more at risk than it had ever been before. 

The report argued nuclear power could be a “potential game changer” because of how different the technology is now from where it was in the ’60s and ’70s. 

“We now have the capability to build completely, inherently safe reactors,” Waksman told Breaking Defense in the interview. “We have the ability to build reactors that, even in worst case scenarios, have very minor radiological imprints. It’s not that they’re no risk, but it is just a different era.”