Promoting Small Modular Reactors for National Defense and Space Exploration
The order directs the Department of Defense and NASA to demonstrate and plan the use of small modular and micro-reactors for domestic military installations, space exploration through 2040, and deep space propulsion.
It also requires a multi-agency technology roadmap through 2030 and mandates completion of a $115 million domestic uranium enrichment demonstration, positioning nuclear power as a cornerstone of U.S. defense and space strategy.
What this order does
What it orders
The order directs the Secretary of Defense to establish and implement a plan within 180 days to demonstrate a micro-reactor at a domestic military installation, and to analyze advanced nuclear reactors for future space power needs and pilot a transportable micro-reactor prototype. It directs NASA to define requirements for nuclear energy systems for human and robotic exploration missions through 2040 and analyze associated costs and benefits within 180 days. It instructs the Secretary of Energy to complete an ongoing $115 million, three-year demonstration of a domestic uranium enrichment technology capable of producing high-assay, low-enriched uranium (HALEU) — a fuel needed for advanced reactors — and to develop a plan to transition that technology to the private sector.
The order also requires the Secretaries of State, Defense, and Commerce, along with the Energy Secretary and NASA Administrator, to jointly develop a common technology roadmap through 2030 covering both terrestrial and space-based nuclear programs. Implementation of all directives is subject to available appropriations, and the order does not itself create any enforceable legal rights or benefits.
Who it affects
Federal agencies including the Department of Defense, NASA, and Department of Energy, which are directed to implement plans and demonstrations. Private-sector nuclear energy companies stand to benefit from federally funded technology transitions. Military installations in remote locations and future space missions are the intended operational beneficiaries.
Why it matters
Military bases in remote locations could gain independent, resilient power sources less vulnerable to grid disruption. Space missions to the Moon and Mars depend on compact nuclear power that solar panels cannot provide. Private-sector nuclear firms gain a potential pathway to commercialize federally developed HALEU fuel enrichment technology.
What must happen and when
How the order is supposed to work
The order works in parallel tracks: Defense and NASA each have 180-day windows to produce plans and analyses, while the Energy Department completes an already-funded enrichment demonstration. A multi-agency roadmap ties the tracks together and must be submitted to the President before agencies file budget proposals, giving it upstream influence over appropriations requests. Enforcement depends entirely on budget availability and agency cooperation; no independent oversight body or penalty mechanism is created.
Actions and deadlines
- Establish and implement a plan to demonstrate a micro-reactor at a domestic military installation
- Identify opportunities at domestic military installations where micro-reactors could enhance energy requirements, if demonstration is successful
- Determine whether advanced nuclear reactors can benefit DOD future space power needs and pilot a transportable micro-reactor prototype
- Direct analyses of personnel, regulatory, and technical requirements for nuclear power usage and foreign adversaries' space programs
- Define NASA requirements for nuclear energy systems for exploration missions through 2040 and analyze costs and benefits
- Complete the three-year, $115 million domestic HALEU uranium enrichment technology demonstration
- Develop a plan to transition the HALEU enrichment technology to the private sector
- Develop a common technology roadmap through 2030 for terrestrial and space-based nuclear programs