THE USE OF NUCLEAR POWER TO ESTABLISH MICROGRIDS ON UNITED STATES MILITARY INSTALLATIONS

From its inception up until 2006, the U.S. electric grid was considered a reliable means of power distribution. However, it was recognized by Congress that there was an innate need to upgrade the grid to allow for modern electronics demand and renewable resources with the passing of the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007.[1] The largest public consumer of domestically produced electricity is the Department of Defense. With most agreeing that demand is certain to balloon with the addition of DoD sponsored artificial intelligence data centers.[2] Most military installations are connected to the grid using their regional private distribution company. However, many government and military leaders classify this as a security concern. Several reports and studies have been conducted for the use of nuclear reactors to establish military installation “microgrids.” A review of these reports suggests that there is no central effort by the DoD to establish the type of reactors or a plan to develop the workforce necessary to run these facilities. Rather, each branch of the military is running an independent study that only considers the feasibility. This report advocates for a centralized Department of Defense initiative to optimize base selection for reactor power usage and training forces, with a primary focus on the Navy. District heating on many naval bases along with the Navy’s long-standing tradition of naval nuclear power make it the ideal choice for establishing norms of operation and training a non-shipboard crew for manning nuclear reactors at any military installations.