The Army has begun site planning for three nuclear microreactors at Fort Benning, Ga., as an early step toward deploying the systems under its Janus energy resilience program.
Fort Benning hosted an initial Janus Program site visit Oct. 16 with Army planners, officials from the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Installations, Energy & Environment, Radiant Industries and other energy stakeholders, according to an Oct. 19 Army release.
Radiant will provide, install and operate three of its Kaleidos microreactors at Fort Benning. The systems are intended to provide independent power to mission-critical facilities if the commercial grid is disrupted.
The Army and Radiant held technical workshops on integrating the reactors with Fort Benning’s existing electrical infrastructure. Participants also reviewed regulatory, security, emergency-response and safety requirements, as well as environmental and cultural-resource considerations under the National Environmental Policy Act.
The visit included a physical assessment of a potential reactor location. Fort Benning officials said the site is currently the preferred option, but final approval will depend on the results of environmental and cultural-resource surveys.
“Completing the required environmental and cultural resource surveys” is now an immediate priority, according to Ed Locke, Fort Benning’s Janus project lead.
The site visit follows the Army’s Aug. 26 announcement that Fort Benning was among five installations selected to host microreactors under Janus. The Army paired Fort Benning with Radiant, while four other installations were matched with Antares Nuclear, BWXT Advanced Technologies, General Atomics Electromagnetic Systems and Westinghouse Government Services.
The Army said the five vendor agreements could total up to $2.2 billion to own, construct and operate microreactors at military installations. Radiant separately said its agreement covers up to 15 Kaleidos units and is valued at up to $750 million.
The Janus program aims to deploy nuclear power at military installations, with the Army targeting initial operational microreactor deployments by 2028.
