Sonal Patel of Power reports that Project Pele has broken ground at Idaho National Laboratory.
- Created in 2016, Project Pele aims to create an easily transportable microreactor for military operations and battlefield use.
- Through the initiative, Lynchburg, Virginia-based BWXT Advanced Technologies will manufacture a 1 MWe to 5 MWe high-temperature gas-cooled reactor.
- The reactor will be fueled at Idaho National Laboratory’s Transient Reactor Test Facility before being tested at the lab’s Critical Infrastructure Test Range Complex for three years.
“Groundbreaking marks an essential phase of the much-watched program. The program launched in 2016 in response to a Defense Science Board study, which evaluated the DOD’s need for a mobile, reliable, and resilient power source that minimizes logistical demands. The study recognized that battlefield energy needs would dramatically increase with the rise of energy-intensive military systems. It identified nuclear power—which offers two million times the energy density of diesel—as an ideal solution.”
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