US navy airlifts small reactor as Trump pushes to shortly deploy nuclear energy : NPR

[ad_1] <img src="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/3813x2542+0+0/resize/1100/quality/50/format/jpeg/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F2f%2Fb7%2F9aa477d74802b781d91ee6f79474%2Fap26050704729644.jpg" data-template="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/3813x2542+0+0/resize/{width}/quality/{quality}/format/{format}/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F2f%2Fb7%2F9aa477d74802b781d91ee6f79474%2Fap26050704729644.jpg" class="img" alt="A Valar Atomics microreactor is seen on a C-17 aircraft, without nuclear fuel, at March Air Reserve Base, Calif., Sunday, Feb. 15, 2026. The reactor was transported from March Air Reserve Base to Hill Air Force Base in Utah." fetchpriority="high"/> A Valar Atomics microreactor is seen on a C-17 plane, with out nuclear gas, at March Air Reserve Base, Calif., Sunday, Feb. 15, 2026. The reactor was transported from March Air Reserve Base to Hill Air Power Base in Utah. Matthew Daly/AP disguise caption

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Matthew Daly/AP HILL AIR FORCE BASE, Utah — The Pentagon and the Power Division for the primary time airlifted a small nuclear reactor from California to Utah, demonstrating what they are saying is U.S. potential to shortly deploy nuclear energy for navy and civilian use.

The almost 700-mile flight final weekend — which transported a 5-megawatt microreactor with out nuclear gas — highlights the Trump administration's drive to advertise nuclear vitality to assist meet skyrocketing demand for energy from synthetic intelligence and knowledge facilities, as properly to be used by the navy.

Power Secretary Chris Wright and Undersecretary of Protection Michael Duffey, who traveled with the privately constructed reactor, hailed the Feb. 15 journey on a C-17 navy plane as a breakthrough for U.S. efforts to fast-track industrial licensing for the microreactors, a part of a broader effort by the Trump administration to reshape the nation's vitality panorama.

A brand new emphasis on nuclear vitality President Donald Trump helps nuclear energy — a carbon-free supply of electrical energy — as a dependable vitality supply, at the same time as he has been broadly hostile to renewable vitality and prioritizes coal and different fossil fuels to provide electrical energy.

Skeptics warn that nuclear vitality poses dangers and say microreactors is probably not protected or possible and haven't proved they'll meet demand for an inexpensive worth.

<img src="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/3938x2252+0+0/resize/1100/quality/50/format/jpeg/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F59%2Fae%2F274ae06c481eb82feb8ef55c2683%2Fap26050704941403.jpg" data-template="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/3938x2252+0+0/resize/{width}/quality/{quality}/format/{format}/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F59%2Fae%2F274ae06c481eb82feb8ef55c2683%2Fap26050704941403.jpg" class="img" alt="Energy Secretary Chris Wright speaks at a news conference at March Air Reserve Base, Calif., Sunday Feb. 15, 2026." loading="lazy"/> Power Secretary Chris Wright speaks at a information convention at March Air Reserve Base, Calif., Sunday Feb. 15, 2026. Matthew Daly/AP disguise caption

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Matthew Daly/AP Wright brushed these considerations apart as he touted progress on Trump's push for a fast escalation of nuclear energy. Trump signed a collection of government orders final 12 months that enable Wright to approve some superior reactor designs and initiatives, taking authority away from the impartial security company that has regulated the U.S. nuclear trade for 5 many years.

"At present is historical past. A multi-megawatt, next-generation nuclear energy plant is loaded within the C-17 behind us," Wright mentioned earlier than the two-hour flight from March Air Reserve Base in California to Hill Air Power base in Utah.

The minivan-sized reactor transported by the navy is certainly one of not less than three that can attain "criticality" — when a nuclear response can maintain an ongoing collection of reactions — by July 4, as Trump has promised, Wright mentioned.

"That is pace, that is innovation, that is the beginning of a nuclear renaissance," he mentioned.

Microreactors could be for civilian and navy use At present, there are 94 operable nuclear reactors within the U.S. that generate about 19% of the nation's electrical energy, based on the U.S. Power Data Administration. That is down from 104 reactors in 2013 and consists of two new industrial reactors in Georgia that have been the nation's first giant reactors constructed from scratch in a technology.

Recognizing delays inherent to deployment of recent, full-scale reactors, the trade and authorities have centered in recent times on extra environment friendly designs, together with a small modular reactor proposed by the nation's largest public energy firm, the Tennessee Valley Authority.

Microreactors, designed to be transportable, can take {that a} step additional and "speed up the supply of resilient energy to the place it is wanted," Duffey mentioned. Finally, the cellular reactors may present vitality safety on a navy base with out the civilian grid, he and different officers mentioned.

The demonstration flight "will get us nearer to deploy nuclear energy when and the place it's wanted to provide our nation's warfighters the instruments to win in battle," Duffey mentioned.

The reactor transported to Utah will have the ability to generate as much as 5 megawatts of electrical energy, sufficient to energy 5,000 properties, mentioned Isaiah Taylor, CEO of Valar Atomics, the California startup that produced the reactor. The corporate hopes to start out promoting energy on a take a look at foundation subsequent 12 months and turn into totally industrial in 2028.

Some security considerations have not been addressed, specialists say Edwin Lyman, director of nuclear energy security on the Union of Involved Scientists, mentioned the transport flight — which included a throng of reporters, photographers and TV information crews — was little greater than "a dog-and-pony present" that merely demonstrated the Pentagon's skill to ship a bit of heavy tools.

The flight "does not reply any questions on whether or not the undertaking is possible, financial, workable or protected — for the navy and the general public," Lyman mentioned in an interview.

The Trump administration "hasn't made the protection case" for the way microreactors, as soon as loaded with nuclear gas, may be transported securely to knowledge facilities or navy bases, Lyman mentioned.

Officers additionally haven't resolved how nuclear waste can be disposed, though Wright mentioned the Power Division is in talks with Utah and different states to host websites that would reprocess gas or deal with everlasting disposal.

The microreactor flown to Utah can be despatched to the Utah San Rafael Power Lab for testing and analysis, Wright mentioned. Gas can be supplied by the Nevada Nationwide Safety website, Taylor mentioned.

"The reply to vitality is at all times extra," Wright mentioned. After 4 years of restrictions on extra polluting types of vitality beneath the Biden administration, he mentioned, "now we're making an attempt to set every thing free. And nuclear can be flying quickly."