{"id":56878,"date":"2021-01-13T18:11:30","date_gmt":"2021-01-13T18:11:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2021\/01\/13\/trump-orders-dod-to-explore-use-of-nuclear-power-for-space-systems\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T00:13:32","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T00:13:32","slug":"trump-orders-dod-to-explore-use-of-nuclear-power-for-space-systems","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/smr\/nuclear-arsenal\/2021\/01\/13\/trump-orders-dod-to-explore-use-of-nuclear-power-for-space-systems\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump orders DoD to explore use of nuclear power for space"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

WASHINGTON \u2014 In the waning days of his administration, U.S. President Donald Trump has signed an executive order aimed at pushing the Department of Defense toward quickly developing and producing small nuclear reactors for military use \u2014 and to see if they could be used by military space vehicles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The order, signed Jan. 5 and posted publicly<\/a> Jan. 12, is not the first time the value of nuclear power for military operations has been studied. There is a long history of the Pentagon considering the issue, which proponents believe could alleviate the department\u2019s massive logistics challenge of keeping fuel moving around the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Replacing all local power with a nuclear reactor isn\u2019t necessary for the department\u2019s goals, but one or more small reactors, located on base, would ensure that if the local power grid<\/a> goes down, critical functions will still be able to operate. According to an October 2018 technical report<\/a> by the Nuclear Energy Institute, 90 percent of military installations have \u201can average annual energy use that can be met by an installed capacity of nuclear power\u201d of 40 MWe (megawatt electric) or less.<\/p>\n\n\n\t