US Army Awards $2.2 Billion for Micro Nuclear Reactors at Military Bases

The United States Army has announced it will award contracts worth 2.2 billion US dollars, equivalent to Rp34.7 trillion, to five companies. The contracts are intended for the construction and operation of small-scale nuclear reactors at a number of military bases.

The announcement, issued on Wednesday (26/08), sets a target for the first reactor to be operational no later than the end of September 2028.

Developers say the installations are called microreactors because each nuclear unit will be easily transportable and capable of generating up to 20 megawatts of power.

The reactors will comply with all environmental and safety regulations applicable to commercial reactors. However, a US Army spokesman said the reactors will be overseen directly by the military, rather than by the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which normally regulates commercial facilities.

“The main idea is that ultimately we want a product that can be commercialised,” said Jeff Waksman, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Army for Installations, Energy and Environment.

Secretary of the Army Dan Driscoll said the contracts will accelerate the military’s ability “to deliver safe, reliable baseload power directly to our installations.”

“We are building the energy resilience needed to project combat power globally, without having to rely on potentially vulnerable external grids,” he added.

The Army has selected five companies to work on projects at its bases. The companies are:

• Antares Nuclear at Fort Liberty, North Carolina

• BWXT Advanced Technologies at Fort Campbell, Kentucky

• General Atomics Electromagnetic Systems at Fort Cavazos, Texas

• Radiant Industries at Fort Moore, Georgia

• Westinghouse Government Services at Fort Drum, New York

Radiant Chief Commercial Officer Mike Starrett told Reuters that the project, named Janus, will help his company scale up its business. The aim is to meet the needs of commercial customers, such as data centres, by around 2030.

BWXT President and Chief Executive Officer Rex Geveden said, “as we begin work on the Janus programme, we are delivering the most credible and reliable path for the nation to implement portable nuclear power.”

Critics of microreactors say the technology will cost far more than conventional reactors. Safety observers also point out that nuclear technology carries significant risks not shared by other low-carbon energy sources, such as the risk of accidents or the potential for targeted attacks.

The Army programme effectively uses “the military’s deep pockets to provide a hidden subsidy” to nuclear companies. This is seen as benefiting an industry that has not yet been able to find private-sector customers for reactors that remain conceptual and uneconomical. That view was expressed by Alan J. Kuperman, associate professor at the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin, to the AP news agency. He is also a coordinator in the Nuclear Proliferation Prevention Project.

Meanwhile, Jeff Waksman from the military said no one expects microreactors to be cheaper than conventional power plants.

“What we are trying to achieve here with Janus … is to find a way to drive that price down,” he said.

Waksman confirmed that the microreactors will shut down safely in the event of a system failure. He added that the Army will not install them at any base without certainty that the installation is safe.

Furthermore, he said the US military is working on an agreement with the US Department of Energy to remove radioactive waste. As a result, there will be no long-term storage at the bases.

In July 2026, five states offered to host nuclear waste in exchange for federal government support in developing nuclear energy facilities.

An executive order signed by US President Donald Trump in May 2025 was indeed aimed at accelerating the development of nuclear power. Trump has called for the US to quadruple its nuclear energy production. As a note, in nearly the last 50 years, only two large nuclear reactors have been built from scratch in the United States. According to an AP report, both reactors were completed behind schedule and cost at least 17 billion US dollars (around Rp302 trillion) over budget.

According to data from the US Energy Information Administration, the country’s 94 nuclear reactors currently supply about 19% of national electricity demand, compared with about 60% from fossil fuels and 21% from renewable sources.