The next generation of nuclear reactors is being designed to fit into a standard shipping container and be delivered on a truck.
BWX Technologies, a defense contractor that supplies nuclear systems to power submarines and aircraft carriers, is developing a mobile reactor for the U.S. military that will be less than 1% the size of the massive, conventional versions that are widely used commercially today.
Project Pele, as the initiative is known, is at the forefront of an effort to reshape the nuclear industry. Dozens of companies are designing small power plants that can be produced in factories and assembled on-site, a strategy expected to make them faster and cheaper to build. All of those companies are still going through the lengthy commercial regulatory process, which means their systems are unlikely to go into service before the end of the decade. Because BWX is working with the military, it’s going through a different approval process that could let its first system generate electricity as early as 2025.