The Department of War and the Department of Energy have partnered with Valar Atomics to transport a 5-megawatt nuclear reactor from March Air Reserve Base in California to Hill Air Force Base in Utah.
DOW said Sunday that it loaded the Ward 250 nuclear reactor, which could power about 5,000 homes, on a C-17 Globemaster.
Michael Duffey, under secretary of war for acquisition and sustainment and a 2026 Wash100 winner, and Energy Secretary Chris Wright also boarded the C-17 aircraft with the reactor and its components, Reuters reported.
The nuclear reactor will next be delivered to Utah San Rafael Energy Lab for testing and evaluation.
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Why Is the DOW Building Nuclear Reactors?
According to Duffey, the future battlespace will demand far more power to support artificial intelligence-enabled systems, directed-energy weapons, and space and cyber infrastructure.
“Powering next generation warfare will require us to move faster than our adversaries, to build a system that doesn’t just equip our warfighters to fight, but equips them to win at extraordinary speed,” the official stated.
“By supporting the industrial base and its capacity to innovate, we accelerate the delivery of resilient power to where it’s needed,” he added.
How Does the DOW-DOE Partnership Support Trump’s Nuclear Energy EO?
Officials said the War and Energy Departments’ collaboration aligns with President Donald Trump’s four executive orders issued May 23, 2025, to strengthen America’s nuclear energy posture. The directives focus on revitalizing the domestic nuclear industrial base, reforming reactor testing at DOE, overhauling the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and deploying advanced reactors to support national security missions.
“President Trump signed multiple executive orders that have unleashed tremendous reform of all the things that stopped the American nuclear industry from moving,” Wright said.
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