Pentagon’s Nuclear Microreactor Demo Signals New Era for Deployable Power
By Alex Kimani - Feb 18, 2026, 5:00 PM CST
The U.S. military is advancing the deployment of small nuclear microreactors through the Janus Program, aiming to provide secure, on-demand power for military installations and critical infrastructure.
Small Modular Reactors (SMRs) are compact and portable with lower capital costs, but they face significant economic viability challenges due to higher electricity generation costs compared to traditional reactors and renewables.
Environmental concerns for SMRs include the potential to generate substantially more low-to-intermediate level and spent nuclear waste compared to large-scale reactors, along with increased nuclear proliferation risks from the use of High-Assay Low-Enriched Uranium (HALEU).
Pentagon
The U.S. Departments of Energy (DOE) and Defense (DoD) have transported a small nuclear reactor from California to Utah on a cargo plane in a bid to demonstrate the potential to rapidly deploy small and micronuclear reactors (SMRs) for both military and civilian use. The Pentagon partnered with California-based Valar Atomics to transport one of its microreactors on a C-17 aircraft to Hill Air Force Base in Utah. The SMR was, however, moved without nuclear fuel.
https://oilprice.com/Alternative-Energy/Nuclear-Power/Pentagons-Nuclear-Microreactor-Demo-Signals-New-Era-for-Deployable-Power.html
