Statement from the Press Secretary Regarding Small Modular Reactors for National Defense and Space Exploration
WASHINGTON, January 12, 2021 (White House PR) — Today, President Trump is issuing an Executive Order on Promoting Small Modular Reactors for National Defense and Space Exploration, which will further revitalize the United States nuclear energy sector, reinvigorate America’s space exploration program, and produce diverse energy options for national defense needs.
The United States has used transportable nuclear reactors for nearly 70 years for functions like propelling aircraft carriers through the sea and enabling submarines to stay underwater for long periods of time. Using small modular reactors for national defense and space exploration will allow the United States to maintain and advance our leadership and dominance across space and terrestrial domains.
Small modular reactors have the potential to enhance energy flexibility and energy security at domestic military installations in remote locations. At President Trump’s direction, the Department of Defense will establish and implement a plan to demonstrate the energy flexibility and cost effectiveness of a small modular reactor at a domestic military installation, and will pilot a transportable small modular reactor for a mission other than naval propulsion for the first time in half a century.
Nuclear power sources are essential to deep space exploration, where solar power is not practical. The sustainable exploration of the Moon, Mars, and other locations will be enhanced by small modular reactors deployed from Earth for operations across the solar system. NASA will explore the use of nuclear energy systems for human and robotic exploration missions through 2040. As the United States develops new technology, we will continue to adhere to the highest standards for nuclear nonproliferation and safety.
President Trump is committed to ensuring the safety and prosperity of the American people and industry. This Order advances that commitment through continued United States leadership in research and technology, innovation, energy development, and advanced technology.
5 responses to “Statement from the Press Secretary Regarding Small Modular Reactors for National Defense and Space Exploration”
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They’re good stuff for space exploration, although I think it would be politically challenging to use them as mobile power sources outside of the Navy for military purposes. There are countries where US nuclear carriers can’t dock because of anti-nuclear politics there, and bringing a nuclear power plant into a country for operations is going to be a touchy issue politically.
Yes, the original anti-science advocates just go bonkers over nuclear power, one of the reasons Climate Change wasn’t stopped decades ago.
That’s not what sank nuclear power’s widespread adoption. It sunk because it was so expensive that basically no one but either governments or heavily government-backed utilities could afford to build nuclear plants en masse (which you have to do in order to get any cost savings).
The expense was, in turn, related to the essentially bespoke nature of almost every nuclear plant built in the 50s, 60s and 70s. The only reactors ever built in significant quantities from a single design were naval power reactors.
South Korea built a bunch off a single design as well IIRC. There’s a term for that kind of regulatory approval where you grant approval for a particular design of a nuclear power plant, which can then be built repeatedly without having to get the full regulatory treatment for each plant.
It probably would help reduce construction costs, although a big part of those is stuff like the containment building, local concrete infrastructure, etc which ends up having to be a bit bespoke because of differing geography. Naval reactors, by contrast, go into the same ship designs over and over again.
But it would help, especially if it avoided costly delays for plant redesigns. That’s what is hurting that SMR project being done by NuScale. They’ve had to stop and redesign part of the plant repeatedly, including a big change so they wouldn’t rely on water to cool it.