The USA Will Create A Mobile Nuclear Reactor. It Fits In A Truck

2023 Author: Natalie MacDonald | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-05-21 02:36

The United States Department of Defense has announced a competition to create a mobile nuclear reactor that could be transported from place to place. According to Autoevolution, the implementation of the project called Project Pele should allow receiving up to five megawatts of electricity from each sample.

• Two research companies, BWXT Advanced Technologies and X-energy, are independently developing the “mobile solution”. According to the terms of reference of the Ministry of Defense, a mobile nuclear reactor should be not only compact, but also quickly installed: its deployment should take no more than three days, and assembly for transportation to a new location should take a week. Judging by the available illustrations, trucks and transport aircraft will be used to transport such a power unit.

• At the same time, the minimum operating life of the reactor is three years, and during this time it should generate from one to five megawatts of electricity. The department plans to use such devices to cover its own electricity needs, they amount to 30 terawatt-hours annually. It is planned to complete the conceptual development of the prototype by 2022. Both participating companies will present their own projects, from which the agency will choose the most suitable one.
• At the same time, Jay Dreyer, head of the Office of Strategic Capabilities of the US Department of Defense (it acts as the customer for the development) has already stated that the range of applications for such devices may be much wider. The publication assumes that Project Pele will be used in various fields - up to space exploration. It is possible that mobile portable charging stations for electric vehicles will also be built on its basis in order to place them in places where there is no centralized power supply. The launch of the construction of such "charges" has recently been announced by the Jeep company.
• And in Scotland, the world's first tidal charging station went live. Electricity for it is generated by turbines installed in the strait between the two islands.