Army picks 5 firms for $2.2B nuclear microreactor plan

Military bases usually run on the same power grid as everyone else. If that grid goes down, so do the base's lights, radios, and computers. The Army wants to fix that. On Wednesday, it picked five companies to build small nuclear reactors at five bases, from Fort Bragg to Fort Hood. The program is worth up to $2.2 billion, if the companies hit their targets.

A microreactor is a small nuclear plant, built to run independently instead of connecting to the wider grid. The five winners include familiar nuclear names like Westinghouse and BWXT, plus newer startups like Radiant and Antares. Each will build and run its own reactor at one base. The bases are Fort Bragg, Fort Campbell, Fort Hood, Fort Benning, and Fort Drum. The Army has wanted base-level nuclear power for years. Relying on the civilian grid leaves bases vulnerable if it goes down, whether from storms, attacks, or overload. This is the biggest step yet toward actually building that backup power, instead of just studying it.

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Will these reactors actually get built on schedule, or join the long list of delayed nuclear projects? Nuclear construction has a rough track record on both time and cost, in the military and outside it. The Army structured this deal to manage that risk. Companies only get their full share of the $2.2 billion if they hit milestones over five years. Showing up isn't enough. If even one or two of these microreactors come online and work as promised, that's a real proof point. It could become the model the rest of the military follows for base power.