BWXT has installed Project Pele’s core barrel, a key assembly step for the mobile microreactor designed to power troops and equipment in remote locations. The Defense Department’s Strategic Capabilities Office chose the company to develop and deploy the reactor, aiming to reduce military dependence on diesel resupply runs and generators, whose sound can reveal a position.
A reactor moves from plans to assembly
At BWXT’s Innovation Campus in Lynchburg, Virginia, crews lowered the core barrel through a hatch in the roof. The work moves the project into fabrication and assembly, rather than leaving it at the paper-design stage, Charles Graves, director of government microreactors, told Axios. “We are, truly, into the fabrication and assembly cycle,” he said. “There is a huge difference between looking at a paper reactor and getting to a point like this.”
The work takes place at a fenced-off facility along the James River, about three hours southwest of Washington. Northrop Grumman, Rolls-Royce LibertyWorks and Torch Technologies are among the other contributors. BWXT and those companies are working on the Defense Department effort, which is intended for military use in remote locations.
Project Pele is expected to generate 1.5 megawatts of continuous electricity. BWXT says the design challenge is to deliver as much power as possible while keeping the module within a shipping container’s size constraint. “The problem for Pele that we are trying to solve is: produce as much power as you can out of a module that can still fit within that shipping container constraint,” Kate Kelly, president of BWXT Advanced Technologies, told Axios.
Testing planned in Idaho
The system is scheduled to ship next year to Idaho National Laboratory. There, crews will fuel, test and operate it for three years. Workers broke ground at the site in 2024. Graves said it is “progressing well.” The project will move from assembly in Virginia to planned fueling and testing in Idaho.
Pele will use tri-structural isotropic fuel, which BWXT also makes and has supplied to other companies, including startup Antares. Kelly said the mission carries high stakes for the industry: “The gravity of the mission that we are all supporting is quite significant,” she said. “The industry can't afford a mishap. We need to be successful.”
Wider interest in nuclear power
The project comes as the White House, Pentagon, Silicon Valley and El Segundo show growing interest in nuclear energy. A Gallup poll conducted in March found growing support among average Americans. Kelly said, “The scope of opportunities in nuclear is just bigger than it has been.”
BWXT’s work on Pele is also informing Janus. Under that arrangement, the company is expected to build and operate BANR, a high-temperature, gas-cooled reactor, at Fort Campbell, Kentucky. The base article describes a domestic military energy project and its corporate contributors; it doesn't identify a change to civilian energy policy or a transfer of authority to an international institution.