The Army selected five private-sector vendors to develop nuclear microreactors at Fort Bragg, Fort Campbell, Fort Hood, Fort Benning and Fort Drum.
The agreements could provide up to $2.2 billion in government funding from fiscal 2027 through fiscal 2031, alongside substantial private investment.
The Army is targeting operation of its first reactor on a military installation by September 2028, although the initial reactors will remain contractor-owned and operated.
The Department of the Army selected five nuclear-energy vendors and five initial military installations for its Janus microreactor program, according to an Aug. 26 Army announcement.
The agreements could total up to $2.2 billion as the Army and the Defense Innovation Unit pursue secure, reliable baseload power for military facilities and critical missions.
The selected vendors and locations are:
Antares Nuclear Inc. at Fort Bragg, North Carolina
BWXT Advanced Technologies LLC at Fort Campbell, Kentucky
General Atomics Electromagnetic Systems at Fort Hood, Texas
Radiant Industries Inc. at Fort Benning, Georgia
Westinghouse Government Services at Fort Drum, New York
The initial locations are intended to serve as the first phase of a broader effort to strengthen military installation energy resilience and reduce exposure to disruptions affecting external power supplies.
The five installations were selected after a yearlong evaluation of energy requirements, mission needs, grid conditions, seismic factors, hydrology and other safety considerations, Army officials said. The analysis aimed to match each vendor’s technology with the operating requirements and physical conditions of a specific military site.
The Army also plans to work with electric utilities and privatized utility providers as the projects move forward. That coordination will be important for interconnection planning, operating requirements and the potential development of utility-scale, grid-facing generation on Army installations.
The Janus agreements follow earlier federal efforts to develop mobile and advanced nuclear power systems for defense applications, including Project Pele and the Department of Energy’s reactor pilot program.
The Army said the current program is focused on systems capable of providing sustained power over years of operation, rather than short-duration demonstrations.
The announcement comes as energy infrastructure development connected to the artificial intelligence and cloud computing has surged.
ConstructConnect economists Michael Guckes and Devin Bell said in the September Data Center Report that "Rising Data Center spending has supported the growth of Power Infrastructure construction, which grew from $9 billion in 2021 to $37 billion in 2025."
The economists added, "That growth has continued this year, with year-to-date Power Infrastructure starts running 3% ahead of the same period last year."
The Army is working toward a September 2028 deadline for operation of its first Army-regulated reactor on a military installation. Officials have described the schedule as aggressive and said the five selected vendors are not expected to bring all of their reactors online by that date.
The near-term objective is to establish a practical path to at least one operating reactor while the remaining vendors continue development, testing and deployment work. Additional Army and other service locations are expected to be announced later.
The program’s schedule will depend on technical performance, permitting and regulatory approvals, site preparation, utility coordination, manufacturing capacity and the ability to move reactor systems from development into field deployment.
Those factors will determine how quickly the initial five sites can progress from selection to construction and operation.
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