The US Army announced Wednesday it has awarded a combined $2.2 billion to vendors to build and operate small nuclear reactors at five military bases in the United States.
The government plans to install small nuclear reactors also known as SMRs at five “initial locations,” at a time when the US Department of Energy is also promoting development of SMRs. The US military has its own certification process relevant to its needs, Waksman said. Waksman said the military was working jointly with the Department of Energy and the NRC “to align our regulatory processes as much as possible. That way, the companies developing SMRs for the military “can have a straight line from Army approval to hopefully NRC approval soon after,” enabling them to market their reactors to industry or local governments, he said.
Army Plans to Launch Next-Generation Civil Nuclear Power by 2028
The U.S. Army has set a target to operationalize its first next-generation civil nuclear power system by September 2028. This timeline aligns with an executive order issued by President Donald Trump in May 2025, which aimed to expedite the development of advanced nuclear technology. Currently, the Army’s critical infrastructure depends on liquid fossil fuels, predominantly diesel, as a contingency for power supply disruptions from the conventional grid.
