Posted on 10/24/2021 2:20:44 PM PDT by algore
The U.S. Air Force recently announced that it has picked Eielson Air Force Base in Alaska as the base to host a new small nuclear reactor as part of a pilot program.
The U.S. military, as a whole, together with the Department of Energy has been increasingly looking into micro-reactor designs as possible ways to meet ever-growing electricity demands, including for units on the battlefield, as well as to help cut costs and improve general operational efficiency by reducing reliance on fossil fuels.
The Department of the Air Force announced the selection of Eielson as the host facility for this pilot reactor on Oct. 18, 2021. The base is situated deep within the interior of Alaska near the city of Fairbanks and is around 110 miles south of the Arctic Circle.
It is home to the active-duty 354th Fighter Wing, which flies F-35A Joint Strike Fighters and F-16 Viper aggressor jets, as well as the Alaska Air National Guard's 168th Air Refueling Wing with its KC-135 tankers, among other units.
“Energy is a critical asset to ensure mission continuity at our installations,” Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Environment, Safety, and Infrastructure Mark Correll said in a statement.
“Micro-reactors are a promising technology for ensuring energy resilience and reliability, and are particularly well-suited for powering and heating remote domestic military bases like Eielson AFB.”
Make that reSources of course.
*sigh* I was hoping to be in a position to avoid having neighbors...
Calling Jane Fonda. Calling Jane Fonda. Help us stop this before its another 3 Mile Island../s
Nuclear reactors have been powering aircraft carriers for years. Why they haven’t already been used to provide secure, off grid power to military bases is beyond me.
Yes there was a mini nuke at Camp Century in Greenland circa 1959 to 1967
It was part of Operation Iceworm, a secret under ice base
I’ve often wondered why we didn’t just commission the Navy to run a bunch of nuclear power plants based on naval tech. We get power and the Navy gets more trained personnel.
Wouldn’t it be nice to think we could deploy these in
population centers to ease energy needs?
I give it less than few years before some wing-nut group
would try to tap them for dirty bomb materials.
Nuscale smr is light water
Nuscale smr is light water
As an aside the NuScale reactor is a small scale Pressurized water Reactor (PWR), using light water as the coolant.
Admiralty I've been out of the industry for seven years or so, but I am not aware of anyone pursuing licensing of a molten salt reactor using thorium as the fertile material to breed U-233.
I was stationed there TDY back in 1968-1969. Loved my time there. Crew Chief remained drunk the whole time. He never got off base while I visited Fairbanks several times.
When leaving one night to fly back to “The World”, he was griping that he had been in Alaska for two weeks and had never even seen the Northern Lights.
I simply said...”Well, look up!”
If the military used these in Afghanistan, Biden would have left them to the Taliban.
I’d have to assume that the first device of this kind has already been operational deep in the bowels of the WH...
They had an AIDS outbreak at Ft Wainright back in the 1980s and it still looks like it could be a hotbed of HIV.
F-16 Viper? I hate how the modern Air Force renames their aircraft for a new model letter. The F-16 is a FALCON.
Image calling the C model of the P-51 Mustang the Chevy.
Exactly. I suppose it’s just a “cost/risk/reward” thing. The reward for an air craft carrier is HUGE.
This is a fun old story:
https://youtu.be/DZHONQAMV48?t=669
I linked at the time stamp where it gets especially weird, but the whole thing is interesting. Kinda reminds one of the final part of Dr. Strangelove.
If they can run a nuclear sub and aircraft carrier why couldn’t they run small cities?
It’s the big nuclear plants that pose the major risks.
The small ones you could bury underground.
Whoa..that’s pretty scary. And a lot of those cases were men-to-men sex.
The one in Antarctica was shut down after only a few years of unreliable service and terrible maintenance costs.
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