Portable Nuclear Reactor Program Sparks Controversy EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES
6/28/2021
Government Accountability Office illustration
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.
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The POWER Interview: Argonne Lab Advancing Nuclear Energy
Argonne National Laboratory is at the forefront of research into the design of portable nuclear reactors, working to make the technology viable for use at places such as military bases and remote communities.
Micro-reactor concepts are being developed that could fit power generation into a small area, such as in the back of a truck, or even in a rocket headed to space. The U.S. Dept. of Energy (DOE) and others are touting small reactors as a way to provide reliable, zero-carbon power, or to support resiliency of the power grid.
The idea of a nuclear power plant today evokes images of large cooling towers and expansive, warehouse-size buildings. Such facilities generate about a fifth of electricity in the United States without emitting greenhouse gases. A different picture of nuclear energy is emerging, however, in the form of micro-reactors that could fit on the back of a truck or inside a rocket to space. The promise of these micro-reactors is to provide the same reliable, zero-carbon power in remote settings or to support electrical power grid recovery.
The idea of a nuclear power plant today evokes images of large cooling towers and expansive, warehouse-size buildings. Such facilities generate about a fifth of electricity in the United States without emitting greenhouse gases. A different picture of nuclear energy is emerging, however, in the form of micro-reactors that could fit on the back of a truck or inside a rocket to space. The promise of these micro-reactors is to provide the same reliable, z