Projekt Pele
Project Pele is a project of the US Department of Defense to build a deployable nuclear power reactor[1] for use in United States Armed Forces remote operating bases.
In 2020 the project was listed as relevant to lunar and Mars missions.[2]:15 presumably for surface operations rather than rocket propulsion.
Initial contracts
On 9 March 2020, the Department awarded three development contracts,[3] to:
- BWX Technologies, of Virginia, for $13.5 million;
- Westinghouse Government Services of Washington, D.C. for $11.95 million; and
- X-energy of Maryland, for $14.3 million.[3]
The two-year engineering design competition is for a small nuclear micro-reactor in the 1-5 megawatt (MWe) power range.[1]
Development
When the three designs are matured, in about 2022, one will be selected to be built as a prototype.
The envisaged reactor is intended to be deployable by road, rail, aircraft, or sea. It will be capable of quickly being brought on load, and be inherently safe.Vorlage:Cn
The project may not proceed past developed design, or prototyping, if the design is not achievable.Vorlage:Cn
See also
- Akademik Lomonosov, a Russian floating power plant with two 32 MWe reactors
References
- ↑ a b Pentagon awards contracts to design mobile nuclear reactor Aaron Mehta, DefenseNews, 2020-03-09
- ↑ A New Era for Deep Space Exploration and Development July 2020
- ↑ a b DOD Awards Contracts for Development of a Mobile Microreactor, media release, US Department of Defense, 2020-03-09