The United States is allocating an amount of $1.89 billion for the development and construction of Small Modular Reactors (SMRs). These reactors will be used to meet the energy demand of five military bases located on American territory.
The established timeline aims to have the first reactor operational by September 2028. This deadline was set through an executive order issued by President Donald Trump in May 2025, with the purpose of accelerating the advancement of cutting-edge civilian nuclear energy.
Jeff Waksman, who is responsible for the facilities, emphasized during a press conference with the Secretary of the Army, Daniel Driscoll, that the current electrical grid presents potential risks. He noted that in conflict scenarios, there could be an inability to supply fossil fuel sources at the necessary locations.
Waksman also pointed out that currently, all vital army infrastructure depends on a reserve system powered by fossil fuels, predominantly diesel. This reserve serves as a contingency in case of a failure in the conventional power grid that supplies most military installations.
Given this, the government plans to implement SMRs in several of these facilities. After a bidding process, the Army selected five companies, which include startups such as Antares Nuclear and Radiant Industries, as well as established companies in the nuclear sector, like Westinghouse and General Atomics.
The initiative seeks to leverage the progress of SMRs, a development being fostered by the Department of Energy. Since June, five companies have advanced prototypes to a critical phase where the reactor can operate autonomously, without the need for external inputs, and theoretically generate electricity.
However, no SMR is currently operational, and only NuScale has received approval for its reactor design from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). Nevertheless, Jeff Waksman observed that the North American Armed Forces have their own approval procedure for relevant applications.
This particularity allowed the Navy to launch the world's first nuclear submarine, the USS Nautilus, in 1954, which was equipped with a precursor to the SMR, significantly smaller than a traditional reactor. Jeff Waksman clarified that the Armed Forces are collaborating with the Department of Energy and the NRC to ensure that their respective approval protocols are as aligned as possible.