The Pentagon announced on Sept. 10 that the Navy will deploy its first advanced nuclear microreactor at Naval Weapons Station Crane in Indiana, marking the first such installation at a domestic military facility.
The deployment addresses a critical vulnerability in the Defense Department’s energy posture: dependence on the commercial electrical grid for power at sensitive military installations. A grid disruption from a cyberattack, natural disaster or conflict could compromise operations at facilities that manufacture and store essential defense equipment.
Naval Weapons Station Crane produces and maintains electronic warfare systems, weapons systems and other sensitive defense equipment, making uninterrupted power supply a national security imperative, the Pentagon said.
Nuclear microreactors are designed as portable, long-lasting power sources that require minimal refueling and can operate independently of external power infrastructure. The technology has been under development for both military and civilian applications.
The Indiana deployment is part of the Pentagon’s broader push to enhance energy resilience at key defense facilities nationwide, according to the announcement. If successful, the microreactor model could be replicated across dozens of critical military installations that currently rely entirely on commercial grid power.
For communities surrounding Crane, the microreactor represents a new type of nuclear installation on an existing military base. The Navy has decades of experience operating nuclear reactors aboard submarines and aircraft carriers but has not previously deployed similar technology at domestic shore installations.
The deployment also has implications beyond the military. Successful operation of a microreactor at Crane would provide operational data that could accelerate commercial deployment of similar technology for remote communities, industrial facilities and critical infrastructure that need reliable, independent power sources.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the Department of Energy have been developing regulatory frameworks for microreactor technology as multiple private companies advance competing designs toward commercial readiness.