The United States' experience with nuclear power plants is not at all pleasant. In the last 50 years, the country has built only two new nuclear power plants. And that too was completed much later than scheduled. An additional $17 billion was paid.
Despite such a bitter experience with nuclear power plants, US President Donald Trump has called for a four-fold increase in nuclear power production. Although the Department of Energy has not yet started building nuclear power plants in compliance with Trump's instructions, the US military has taken the initiative in this regard.
It plans to install nuclear micro reactors at five military bases, which will cost about $2.2 billion. The US military claims that this project is being taken up by military bases to reduce their dependence on the external grid and generate their own electricity. According to the plan, the first micro reactor will be launched by the end of September 2028. Five separate companies have been assigned the responsibility of building nuclear power reactors at the five bases.
The manufacturers claim that they can be easily moved from one place to another and that each reactor can produce up to 20 megawatts of electricity. The reactors will comply with all environmental and safety regulations similar to commercial nuclear power plants, it has been reported. However, the US military will be responsible for its supervision instead of the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), the regulatory body for commercial nuclear power plants.
Regarding the new plan, Army Secretary Dan Briscall said that the agreement will increase the ability to supply safe and reliable power to military bases. The power supply system necessary for conducting military operations around the world will be created. This will reduce dependence on potentially risky external power grids. The army has faced widespread criticism over this plan. Questions have been raised about the additional cost and potential risks of the project.
In addition to the risk of accidents due to nuclear technology, there is also the risk of deliberate attacks. What will happen to radioactive waste? The huge amount of money from the army is a kind of hidden subsidy for companies in the private sector that are not finding buyers for their expensive and not yet fully implemented reactors.
