Pentagon awards three contracts to develop mobile nuclear reactors to power forward-deployed warfighters
WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) on Monday issued three contracts to start design work on mobile, small nuclear reactors, as part of a two-step plan towards achieving nuclear power for American forces at home and abroad. Defense News reports. Continue reading original article
The Military & Aerospace Electronics take:
10 March 2020 -- DOD awarded contracts for the mobile nuclear reactors to BWX Technologies Inc. in Lynchburg, Va., for $13.5 million; Westinghouse Government Services in Washington for $11.9 million; and X-energy LLC in Rockville, Md., for $14.3 million.
The companies will begin a two-year engineering design competition for a small nuclear microreactor designed potentially to be forward-deployed with forces outside the continental U.S.
The combined $39.7 million in contracts are from “Project Pele,” a project run through the Strategic Capabilities Office (SCO), located within the department’s research and engineering side. The prototype is looking at a 1-to-5 megawatt power range.
John Keller, chief editor
Military & Aerospace Electronics