US military airlifts small reactor as Trump pushes to quickly deploy nuclear power : NPR

A Valar Atomics microreactor is seen on a C-17 aircraft, without nuclear fuel, at March Air Reserve Base, Calif., Sunday, Feb. 15, 2026. The reactor was transported from March Air Reserve Base to Hill Air Force Base in Utah.

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HILL AIR FORCE BASE, Utah — The Pentagon and Department of Energy have flown a small nuclear reactor from California to Utah for the first time, demonstrating what they say is the United States’ potential to rapidly deploy nuclear power for military and civilian uses.

Last weekend’s nearly 700-mile flight — which carried a 5-megawatt microreactor without nuclear fuel — highlights the Trump administration’s push to promote nuclear power to help meet growing demand for power from artificial intelligence and data centers, as well as for use by the military.

Energy Secretary Chris Wright and Deputy Defense Secretary Michael Duffey, who traveled with the privately built reactor, hailed the Feb. 15 trip aboard a C-17 military aircraft as a breakthrough in U.S. efforts to speed up commercial licensing of the microreactors, part of a broader effort by the Trump administration to reshape the nation’s energy landscape.

A new focus on nuclear energy

President Donald Trump supports nuclear power — a carbon-free source of electricity — as a reliable energy source, even though he has been largely hostile to renewable energy and prioritizes coal and other fossil fuels for generating electricity.

Skeptics warn that nuclear power poses risks and say microreactors may not be safe or feasible and have not proven they can meet demand at a reasonable price.

Energy Secretary Chris Wright speaks during a press conference at March Air Force Base, Calif., Sunday, Feb. 15, 2026.

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Wright brushed aside those concerns by touting progress in Trump’s push for a rapid escalation of nuclear power. Trump signed a series of executive orders last year allowing Wright to approve certain advanced reactor designs and projects, stripping authority from the independent safety agency that has regulated the U.S. nuclear industry for five decades.

“Today it’s history. A next-generation, multi-megawatt nuclear power plant is loaded into the C-17 behind us,” Wright said before the two-hour flight from March Air Reserve Base in California to Hill Air Force Base in Utah.

The minivan-sized reactor carried by the military is one of at least three that will reach the “critical level” — when a nuclear reaction can sustain a continuous series of reactions — by July 4, as Trump has promised, Wright said.

“It’s speed, it’s innovation, it’s the start of a nuclear renaissance,” he said.

The microreactors would be for civil and military use

There are currently 94 operational nuclear reactors in the United States that generate about 19 percent of the nation’s electricity, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. That’s down from 104 reactors in 2013 and includes two new commercial reactors in Georgia that were the country’s first large reactors built from scratch in a generation.

Aware of the delays inherent in deploying new large-scale reactors, industry and government have focused in recent years on more efficient designs, including a small modular reactor proposed by the nation’s largest public power company, the Tennessee Valley Authority.

Microreactors, designed to be portable, can go even further and “accelerate the delivery of resilient energy to where it is needed,” Duffey said. Ultimately, mobile reactors could provide energy security on a military base without a civilian network, he and other officials said.

The demonstration flight “brings us closer to deploying nuclear power when and where needed to give our nation’s warfighters the tools to win the battle,” Duffey said.

The reactor transported to Utah will be capable of generating up to 5 megawatts of electricity, enough to power 5,000 homes, said Isaiah Taylor, CEO of Valar Atomics, the California startup that produced the reactor. The company hopes to begin selling electricity on an experimental basis next year and become fully commercial in 2028.

Some security issues not resolved, experts say

Edwin Lyman, director of nuclear energy security at the Union of Concerned Scientists, said the transport flight — which included a crowd of journalists, photographers and television crews — was little more than a “dog and pony show” that simply demonstrated the Pentagon’s ability to ship a piece of heavy equipment.

The flight “answers no questions about whether the project is feasible, economical, feasible or safe — for the military and the public,” Lyman said in an interview.

The Trump administration “has not demonstrated safety” in how microreactors, once loaded with nuclear fuel, can be safely transported to data centers or military bases, Lyman said.

Officials also have not resolved how the nuclear waste will be disposed of, although Wright said the Energy Department is in talks with Utah and other states to accommodate sites that could reprocess the fuel or handle permanent disposal.

The microreactor flown to Utah will be sent to Utah’s San Rafael Energy Laboratory for testing and evaluation, Wright said. The fuel will be provided by the Nevada National Security Site, Taylor said.

“The answer when it comes to energy is always more,” Wright said. After four years of restrictions on the dirtiest forms of energy under the Biden administration, he said, “we’re now trying to unleash everything. And nuclear will fly soon.”