Pentagon Orders Modular Nuclear Reactors
March 17, 2020
The Pentagon has contracted three companies to design small, portable nuclear reactors that can be “rapidly moved by road, rail, sea or air and for quick set up and shut down, with a design which is inherently safe,” making them fit for such uses as powering remote bases. But even as proponents see such efforts as helping the United States regain leadership in nuclear energy technology, experts writing in Issues have dismissed this route, though they did identify some modest policy changes that might enable the military to buttress the nation’s commercial nuclear enterprise.