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Commentary | Should the Pentagon invest in microreactors? – By 1st Lt. Kyle D. Haak (Defense News) / Dec 27, 2022
It’s not clear whether the Department of Defense should continue to develop new types of microreactors — primarily because they have uncertain costs and regulations. However, we can use a systematic and repeatable framework for plugging in such information as it becomes available to pave the way for effective DoD investment decisions. We can even use presently available data and information to identify preliminary findings.
For example, the smallest microreactors, which have a power capacity of 1-5 megawatt electric, are too expensive for almost all DoD locations in the United States when comparing average electricity costs to the status quo energy costs — even when a cost of carbon, value of energy resiliency and manufacturing efficiencies are included.
On the other end of the spectrum, larger, advanced nuclear reactors (80-300 MWe) have a lower average cost of electricity but produce too much power for almost any DoD location to consume independently.
