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U.S. Army awards $2.2 billion to five companies to build nuclear microreactors at military bases. The U.S. Army awarded $2.2B to five companies including BWX Technologies and Westinghouse to build nuclear microreactors at military bases by 2028. By Trader Edge August 27, 2026 3 Mins Read Tldr. * The U.S. Army selected five companies to build nuclear microreactors at military bases, with the first expected online by September 2028. * The government will spend up to $2.2 billion on at least 20 microreactors across five bases. * Companies involved include BWX Technologies, Westinghouse, General Atomics, Radiant Industries, and Antares Nuclear. * Venture capital is pouring into the sector, with startups like Valar Atomics raising $1 billion at a $6 billion valuation. * Critics warn that security costs and permitting make commercial microreactor deployment economically difficult. The U.S. Army has awarded contracts worth up to $2.2 billion to five companies to build nuclear microreactors at military bases across the country. The first reactor is expected to be operational by September 2028. The program, called the Janus Program, was launched last year and is named after the Roman god of transitions. It is designed to give military installations a reliable power source that doesn't depend on the commercial electric grid. Army Secretary Dan Driscoll said the move is about energy resilience. "We are building the energy resilience necessary to project combat power globally, without relying on potentially vulnerable external grids," he said. The five selected companies will build reactors at specific bases. Antares Nuclear will work at Fort Bragg in North Carolina. BWX Technologies will go to Fort Campbell in Kentucky. General Atomics Electromagnetic Systems will build at Fort Hood in Texas. Radiant Industries will work at Fort Benning in Georgia, with a contract worth up to $750 million for up to 15 reactors. Westinghouse Government Services will build at Fort Drum in New York. Each reactor will produce between 1 and 20 megawatts of power, depending on the design. The bases will stay connected to the main grid. The reactors will not fully power them. Why the military is interested. The Army currently relies on diesel for backup power. In a conflict, moving fuel to remote locations is a challenge. Nuclear microreactors can run for years without refueling, making them a practical option for the military. Unlike large nuclear plants, microreactors can be built in a factory and transported to a site. They are much cheaper to build than large reactors, which can cost over $10 billion each and take a decade to construct. Some designs, like those from Radiant and Valar Atomics, use helium gas cooling instead of water. This is considered safer and reduces the risk of meltdowns. Private investment is growing. Venture capital is following the government money. Radiant has raised over $500 million from investors including Andreessen Horowitz and is valued at $1.9 billion. Valar Atomics raised $1 billion earlier this month at a $6 billion valuation. Antares raised $370 million last month. A few microreactor companies have already gone public. Nano Nuclear is valued at around $1 billion. Terra Innovatum sits at $625 million. Deep Fission is near $400 million. Investors are betting that military contracts will prove the technology works and open doors to commercial buyers, including AI data centers that need large amounts of power quickly. Not everyone is convinced. Critics say security costs alone make remote commercial deployment uneconomical. A nuclear reactor requires 24-hour armed security, which is cost-effective on a military base but not at a remote civilian site. Some analysts also point to permitting costs as a barrier. The Army expects private capital investment to run into the billions alongside federal funding. Stop guessing and start investing with confidence. KnockoutStocks gives you the AI insights, market intelligence, and stock research you need to spot opportunities, cut through the noise, and make smarter investment decisions - all in one powerful platform. Simply use coupon code SPECIAL50 at checkout to claim your exclusive discount. Limited Time Offer Get 3 free stock ebooks. Discover top-performing stocks in AI, Crypto, and Technology with expert analysis. * Top 10 AI Stocks - Leading AI companies * Top 10 Crypto Stocks - Blockchain leaders * Top 10 Tech Stocks - Tech giants

eVinci completes cold criticality test at NCERC. Yesterday, Westinghouse announced it had completed zero-power criticality testing for its eVinci test reactor in partnership with Los Alamos National Laboratory and Idaho National Laboratory at the National Criticality Experiments Research Center, validating the models and core design assumptions of the technology. The company said it plans to continue prototyping the system, aiming to provide further validation of the performance, operability, and manufacturability of the microreactor. The technology: eVinci is being developed as a 5-MWe (15-MWt) microreactor on a refueling cycle of eight or more years. It uses heat pipes for passive heat transport, a closed Brayton cycle system, TRISO fuel, and control drums. The eVinci test reactor is a one-fifth-scale representation of the commercial design. Westinghouse has described eVinci as appropriate for remote and challenging environments and has explored eVinci's potential for a range of applications, including lunar surface power, research, and defense. In 2022, Westinghouse was picked by NASA to provide an initial design concept for a 40-kWe version of eVinci that could operate for at least 10 years on the moon. Last year, Penn State University submitted a letter of intent to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to host and operate an eVinci reactor as a campus research reactor. And in April, Westinghouse was selected as a potential developer and operator of microreactors at U.S. Air Force installations. Testing location: In 2023, Westinghouse was awarded funding via a front-end engineering and experiment design (FEEED) process from INL's National Reactor Innovation Center to develop an end-to-end program to evaluate the eVinci test reactor at the Demonstration of Microreactor Experiments (DOME) test bed. Last year, the Department of Energy conditionally selected Westinghouse and Radiant to run the first projects at DOME, but Radiant is first in line. That company announced earlier this month that its Kaleidos microreactor was en route to the facility and that the DOE has awarded it exclusive access to DOME for a full year. Yesterday's announcement appears to be the first public record of an eVinci testing campaign at NCERC, which is located at the Nevada National Security Site.