Air Force Gen. Dale White, the direct reporting portfolio manager for critical major weapon systems, visited the 91st Missile Wing at Minot AFB, N.D., on March 19-20 to gain insights on requirements and modernization involved with the Northrop Grumman LGM-35A Sentinel future intercontinental ballistic missile, the Air Force said.
“The Sentinel program is foundational to our nation’s security, which is why these engagements with our operational Airmen are so critical,” White said.
This year, the Pentagon may re-certify Sentinel for engineering and manufacturing development (EMD) after rescinding EMD in 2024 after a Nunn-McCurdy breach.
Huntington Ingalls Industries and GrayMatter Robotics will host a ceremony to sign a memorandum of understanding on Monday, April 6, according to a HII press release.
The physical artificial intelligence company GrayMatter Robotics will also host a demonstration of physical AI, and how it plans to use it to advance shipbuilding.
The International Atomic Energy Agency reported on March 26 the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine lost connection to its main offsite power line Tuesday.
The lost connection means ZNPP must rely on a single backup powerline, the release said. IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi has proposed a ceasefire to both Ukraine and Russia. This would be the sixth temporary ceasefire brokered by the IAEA, the previous five of which helped enable six separate repairs to ZNPP powerlines.
In a request for information (RFI) released March 25, the Air Force is looking for input from companies interested in deploying nuclear reactors at its bases.
The RFI listed on procurement database sam.gov says the service is interested in 1 megawatt to-300-megawatt microreactors and small modular reactors (SMRs), not large-scale reactors. Interested companies will need to be able to design, license, fuel, construct and deploy SMRs, the RFI says. Responses are due April 19.
Efforts to deploy advanced nuclear reactors at U.S. military installations have accelerated amid a broader policy push by President Donald Trump to expand domestic nuclear energy and streamline regulatory pathways. The Army’s parallel effort with the Department of Energy, called the Janus program, involves an Army-regulated nuclear reactor at a U.S. military installation by September 2028. Recent directives from the White House frame on-base reactor deployment — particularly microreactors — as a national security priority, so much so that Trump wants defense-related nuclear energy efforts exempt from the National Environmental Policy Act.
The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) is looking at using a major facility at the Department of Energy’s Idaho National Laboratory for treatment of some of NNSA’s future waste streams, according to a safety board report.
On Feb. 17, NNSA and members of the Amentum-led environmental cleanup contractor for Idaho National Laboratory met “to discuss logistics needed to maintain AMWTP [the Advanced Mixed Waste Treatment Project] systems … [and] facilitate additional treatment of waste from other DOE sites.” That is according to a recent staff report from the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB).
Management of the DOE contractor, the Idaho Environmental Coalition, talked about what upgrades might be needed to AMWTP, such as improvements to the ventilation systems as well as personnel radiation protection controls, according to the safety board report. The contractor plans to put together a presentation on supporting offsite waste treatment project plans, according to the report.
Executives with advanced reactor companies sounded upbeat during a Tuesday webinar on their projects chances of reaching criticality by Independence Day under the Department of Energy’s reactor pilot program.
Officials from Aalo Atomics, Antares Nuclear and Radiant Nuclear all expressed optimism during an American Nuclear Society panel discussion webinar titled “Path to Criticality.” DOE’s reactor pilot program envisions having at least three demonstration reactors reach criticality by July 4.
Radiant’s Kaleidos demonstration reactor will reach full power this summer after reaching criticality, Chief Nuclear Officer Rita Baranwal said. When at full power, Radiant will allow its reactor to run at that level for 150 hours straight to gauge the technology’s viability.