The Air Force and Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) have selected Antares Nuclear, Radiant Nuclear and Westinghouse to construct and operate a microreactor on an Air Force base.
According to the Air Force’s April 22 press release, Westinghouse will deploy its eVinci microreactor at the Malmstrom Air Force Base in Montana. Radiant will construct its Kaleidos reactor at the Buckley Space Force Base in Colorado.
These selections come through the Air Force and DIU’s Advanced Nuclear Power for Installations program (ANPI), a partnership between the two entities to deploy contractor-owned and operated microreactors on Air Force installations. The decision also comes a few weeks after Malmstrom and Buckley were picked as the bases for microreactor deployment.
In addition to the Buckley and Malmstrom bases, Joint Base San Antonio in Texas was chosen as a third site for microreactor deployment. Antares Nuclear has been chosen to work its R1 reactor there.
The ANPI program seeks to have at least one advanced nuclear reactor operating at an Air Force installation by 2030 or sooner, according to the release.
“The future of air and space dominance is powered by resilient energy,” said Michael Borders, assistant secretary of the Air Force for energy, installations and environment. “By integrating advanced nuclear technology, we are not just keeping the lights on; we are guaranteeing that our most critical national security missions will never be held at risk by a power outage.”
Westinghouse’s eVinci microreactor is a five-megawatt transportable reactor that will use tri-structural isotropic fuel to power its systems. Westinghouse said in its April 23 press release the technology is designed to be factory-built and assembled before it is shipped.
Radiant is developing a portable high-temperature gas-cooled microreactor called Kaleidos that has a net generating capacity of one megawatt. According to Radiant’s April 22 press release, it said it is the only nuclear company “conducting a full power, commercial-scale, multi-megawatt powered test” at the Department of Energy’s Idaho National Laboratory’s Demonstration of Microreactor Experiments facility in 2026.
Antares Nuclear’s R1 reactor is a sodium-cooled microreactor that is designed to produce between 100 kilowatts and one megawatt of electricity for both government and defense purposes.
Both Antares Nuclear and Radiant expect to have their respective first microreactors online by 2028.