Portable Nuclear Reactor Program Sparks Controversy.

• Author: Mayfield, Mandy

The Defense Department is working to quickly procure a small, transportable nuclear reactor that could help bring energy to remote and austere environments.

However, the program has drawn criticism from nuclear nonproliferation experts for potentially causing disasters on battlefields.

The Pentagon's Strategic Capabilities Office selected two teams in March to continue their work developing transportable nuclear microreactor prototypes as part of "Project Pele."The effort was originally formulated in the fall of 2018 in response to language in the 2019 National Defense Authorization Act about the need to find a solution to a perennial problem: providing power to U.S. troops, said Jeff Waksman, program manager for the effort.

The office awarded BWXT Advanced Technologies, a Virginia-based nuclear components company, and X-energy, a Maryland-based nuclear reactor and fuel engineering company,

$27.9 million and $28.7 million for the project, respectively.

Prior to the award, both companies received contracts ranging from approximately $13 million to $15 million in 2020 for work on preliminary engineering designs of the microreactors.

Nuclear power is "orders of magnitude more energy dense than any other known technology," Waksman told National Defense. "That allows the possibility to provide resilient power for years and years, without needing to refuel.... Refueling can be a real burden in remote areas."

The Strategic Capabilities Office sees three main applications for the initial capability, Waksman noted.

"When we talk about the low hanging fruit for early applications for this, [the first] is remote locations--think the Arctic where there is a need for large amounts of power--but it's hard to get power there now," he said.

Another is what is referred to as the "strategic support area,'" which provides power for equipment that is mission essential, such as radar systems, he said.

The third key application for a portable reactor is its ability to aid in humanitarian assistance and disaster relief, Waksman said.

Over the past few years there have been a number of incidents throughout the United States including hurricanes and cold snaps that have caused massive power outages over large areas.

"One of these reactors is not going to power Texas or California or Puerto Rico, but what it can power is a crucial single location when the whole grid is down," Waksman said. "This can power a hospital or it can power a refugee center."

The reactor is...