Media Coverage
Source: Platts Nucleonics Week, Utility Dive
Media Coverage
Press Contacts: Erik Cummins, Matt Hyams, Taina Rosa, Olivia Thomas
06.17.24
In connection with the Biden administration’s initiative to support the development, construction and operation of new nuclear power reactors, the U.S. Army is soliciting proposals to deploy microreactors at Army bases across the U.S. to achieve secure and reliable power off-the grid as soon as 2030.
“The intention is to try to get a commercial unit and rapidly deploy [it]…to provide power for Army critical infrastructure,” Pillsbury Nuclear Energy practice leader Jeff Merrifield said. Power would then be provided under long-term power purchase agreements.
Merrifield, who is a former two-time commissioner with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, added that the Army, which “wants to do this quite rapidly,” intends to choose two U.S. bases for initial deployment of two microreactors.
The procurement process being used, he said, is “built for some degree of speed. They will ask for proposals to be submitted, then narrow the field over a short period of time. Then it might take a year to negotiate terms, conditions, and see what deal would look like.”
Merrifield said that “the program is intended to provide this capability to the Army, but the other branches of military or government might want to take advantage of the program, as well.”
Despite the Request for Information’s, or RFI’s, tight response timeline, Merrifield told Utility Dive that it will not prevent “a diversity of companies” from responding. He added that up to a dozen commercial developers could be interested in submitting proposals to the Department of Defense under this plan.