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Defense Innovation Unit and DOD Offer Bases as First‑of‑a‑Kind Sites to Validate Advanced Reactor Rules
Summary
Defense Innovation Unit officials said military bases could host early microreactors to validate draft regulatory approaches, accelerate deployment, and help build workforce and demonstration experience for the sector.
Lee Robinson of the Defense Innovation Unit said DIU plans to use the advanced nuclear power installations program to validate draft Part 53 regulations by siting first-of-a-kind reactors at military installations, potentially an Air Force or Army base. "They're actually using the advanced nuclear power for installations program through DIU as the first of a kind," Robinson said, adding the approach can validate rules for national security priorities and commercial use.
Robinson and other panelists also stressed that DOD deployments serve as private-sector catalysts while exposing projects to public scrutiny because bases are often adjacent to towns and schools. Robinson said Project Pele at Idaho National Laboratory provides lessons on necessary workforce depth and the value of repeatable designs to avoid bespoke projects that are costly and labor-intensive.
