US Defense Department awards microreactor contracts

摘要

The US Department of Defense (DOD) has awarded contracts to BWX Technologies Inc, Westinghouse Government Services and X-energy LLC to each begin design work on a mobile nuclear reactor prototype. The engineering design phase of the project will last up to two years, after which one of the three teams may be selected to build and demonstrate a prototype reactor. The awards are under Project Pele, an initiative under the DOD's Strategic Capabilities Office (SCO) to develop a safe, mobile and advanced nuclear microreactor to support a variety of DOD missions such as generating power for remote operating bases.