Lynchburg-based BWXT Advanced Technologies LLC is one of two companies chosen to develop a final prototype design for a transportable advanced nuclear microreactor, the U.S. Department of Defense announced Monday.
Along with Maryland’s X-energy LLC, BWXT was selected from a preliminary design competition and will continue developing its design under a Strategic Capabilities Office (SCO) initiative called Project Pele. The two companies’ prototypes will then be reviewed in early 2022 and given a complete environmental analysis, after which one of the two companies will be chosen to build and demonstrate a prototype.
According to the DOD, the development of a small, transportable nuclear reactor would allow the agency to reduce its carbon emissions and provide tools for disaster relief and critical infrastructure support. The DOD uses approximately 30 terawatt-hours of electricity per year and more than 10 million gallons of fuel per day. Project Pele is a whole-government project with oversight by the U.S. Army, the Department of Energy, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, NASA and the National Nuclear Security Administration.
