Three companies have been awarded contracts to develop a prototype for a mobile nuclear reactor which the Pentagon is calling “Project Pele.”

Annual power usage of the DOD is 30 terawatt hours, and the services uses over 10 million gallons a fuel per day. “A safe, small, mobile nuclear reactor would enable units to carry a nearly endless clean power supply, enabling expansion and sustainment of operations for extended periods of time anywhere on the planet,” said the DOD memo.

Other advantages to the new system include providing power for post-disaster and remote areas, as well as remaining competitive with China and Russia with regards to nuclear power technology development.

The three teams that received the award are: BWX Technologies, Inc., Lynchburg, Virginia; Westinghouse Government Services, Washington, D.C.; and X-energy, LLC, Greenbelt, Maryland.

Image by NuScale Power Reactors // Energy.gov