The Pentagon is commissioning long-term development of nuclear microreactors.
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Unlike small modular reactors and Russia's nuclear icebreakers, this tech is still far from the market.
After its development for military use, the microreactor will likely enter the commercial market.
Three contractors have received Pentagon deals to build modular nuclear reactors for the U.S. military. All three are contract work “veterans” in the Washington, D.C. area, and all are part of an overall program called Project Pele, which aims to fit forward-deploying units with cutting-edge microreactors.
“Project Pele is a mobile microreactor program using a two-phased approach to mitigate project and technical risk. Phase I is design and Phase II is construction. In Phase I (approximately 24 months), Department of Defense (DoD) intends to award multiple prime contracts,” Idaho National Laboratories explained in a support document. Idaho is hosting much of the development and testing associated with Project Pele.
Small nuclear reactors are having a big moment right now, combining claims of vastly improved safety over traditional reactors with mobility and relatively “clean” output that proponents say make it the stopgap we need in the transition from fossil fuels to whatever is next. It's important to note “small modular reactor” and “microreactor” are different terms, and there’s a third Goldilocks category that sits between them.
While small modular reactors are in late testing and early permitting and installation phases around the world, the Goldilocks category is already in use on “floating power plant” installations and Russia’s unique nuclear icebreakers. Microreactors, which are what the Pentagon is most interested in with Project Pele and others, per Defense News, are still quite far out from being ready to deliver in any form. By investing in them, the Pentagon is likely putting them in the same ballpark with the other two small reactor types, and this could lead to additional investments.
The military has always led on technology using access that other parts of the government don’t have—especially if the tech will be used by just the military in wartime contexts. World Nuclear Association spokesman Jonathan Cobb says that development advantage can benefit consumers because the burden of security testing and regulatory approval is on the military. But even that first hurdle is likely pretty far in the future, and any civilian use would be even further out.
“How [microreactors] then would be developed to commercial applications may depend not only on industry developments, but also on establishing an effective regulatory environment,” Cobb said. “Most likely though we would be looking at microreactors coming into a commercial basis in the 2030s.”
One of the technical barriers holding this technology back has been the availability of fuel, and if that continues to be a problem, the technology could stall. But that’s part of what’s expected during the early development phase.
There are other concerns with taking nuclear on the move into combat zones, which will be part of any discussion about how to really deploy these microreactors. The more surprising tangle: Governments around the world that already participate in anti-nuclear agreements might not allow even a non-weapons nuclear reactor to pass through. In that case, the category-killing mobility of a microreactor could stay parked in the garage.