The U.S. military and NASA have power problems. Nuclear microreactors might solve both

The push for a new nuclear age to power the AI boom with next-generation reactors remains feasible, but it’s the U.S. military and NASA that are stepping in to expedite the development of even smaller nuclear—so-called microreactors—to power remote bases, revolutionize combat, and fuel deep-space exploration.

As the data center boom slows a bit and the nuclear hype wanes—stock valuations are down and planned IPOs are canceled—the federal government is stepping up funding to support the implementation of microreactors on domestic military bases by 2028. The tentative plans are to eventually extend their reach to remote bases in harsh weather conditions—potentially near combat zones—and eventually to lunar bases and the outer reaches of the solar system.

In June, nuclear startup Antares successfully flipped the switch on its Mark-0 microreactor, first to the finish line in the Trump administration’s pilot program race for the next generation of reactors to achieve criticality.

Next, Antares aims to install its 1-megwatt R1 reactor at the U.S. Army’s Fort Bragg in North Carolina by September 2028. Even more ambitious, founder and CEO Jordan Bramble aims to install an R1-S (the S is for “space”) on the moon as soon as 2030. In September, the Department of Defense awarded Antares $161 million to develop an R1-S reactor integrated with spacecraft for flight certification. Solar power and radioisotopes are seen as the shorter-term power solution on the moon with nuclear microreactors considered the permanent fix.

“We’ll need fission power on the dark side of the moon,” Bramble told Fortune. “Fission is going to be our best path to doing very high-powered things in orbit. If we’re going to send landers to Europa and Enceladus and Triton (moons of Jupiter, Saturn, and Neptune) and try to find microbial life under the ice, we’re probably going to need fission power to do that.”

The idea is to provide nimble and reliable baseload power that’s clean, meltdown-proof, and relatively agile for limited power uses. Of course, the technology still needs to be proven in the field commercially and not just in testing labs. Historically, the only comparable uses are within the Navy—for decades—for nuclear-powered submarines and aircraft carriers to avoid constant refueling. “We’ve always believed since the beginning the [Department of Defense] would be the first adopter of advanced nuclear power,” Bramble said. “That’s obvious at this point.”

In the near term, the U.S. Army is working with Antares, Radiant, General Atomics, and more to install microreactors on its biggest Lower 48 bases to prove their reliability and to protect........

© Fortune