US conducts first airlift of nuclear microreactor

The US Departments of Energy and Defense on Sunday (Feb 16, 2026) transported a small nuclear reactor on a cargo plane from California to Utah for the first time, demonstrating the ability to rapidly deploy nuclear power for military and civilian use.

The agencies partnered with California-based Valar Atomics to fly one of the company’s Ward microreactors aboard a C-17 aircraft — without nuclear fuel — to Hill Air Force Base in Utah. Energy Secretary Chris Wright and Under-Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment Michael Duffy were on board a C-17 with the reactor and its components and hailed the event as a breakthrough for US nuclear power and military logistics.

“It brings us closer to deploying nuclear power when and where needed to give our nation’s warfighters the tools to win the war,” Mr. Duffy said.

Domestic nuclear proliferation

President Donald Trump’s administration sees small nuclear reactors as one of several ways to expand US energy production. Last May, Trump issued four executive orders aimed at increasing domestic nuclear expansion to meet growing energy demand for national security and competitive AI advances. The Department of Energy issued two grants in December to accelerate the development of small modular reactors.

Proponents of microreactors have also touted them as a power source that can be sent to distant and remote areas, providing an alternative to diesel generators that require frequent deliveries of fuel. But skeptics argue that the industry has not proven that small nuclear reactors can produce power at an affordable cost.

“There’s no business case for microreactors, even if they work as designed — producing electricity at a much higher cost than large nuclear reactors, not to mention renewables like wind or solar,” said Edwin Lyman, director of nuclear power safety at the Union of Concerned Scientists.

The Energy Department plans to have the three microreactors reach “criticality” by July 4 — when a nuclear reactor can stand on its own, Mr. Wright said. The micro reactor at Sunday’s event, slightly larger than a minivan, can generate up to 5 megawatts of electricity, enough to power 5,000 homes, Waller CEO Isaiah Taylor said. It will start operating at 100 kilowatts in July and reach a maximum of 250 kilowatts this year before ramping up to full capacity, he said.

Nuclear waste

Valar expects to start selling electricity on a test basis in 2027 and go fully commercial in 2028. While private industry has developed nuclear technology on its own, he said, the federal government “needs to do some enabling measures to allow fuel manufacturing here and uranium enrichment here.”

Fuel for Valar’s reactor will be shipped from the Nevada National Security site to the San Rafael facility, Mr. Wright told reporters.

However, even small generators can lead to significant amounts of radioactive waste, Mr. Lyman said. Other experts say designers don’t need to consider waste at the outset, beyond planning how to manage it. Although disposal of nuclear waste remains an unresolved issue, the Energy Department is in talks with some states, including Utah, to host sites that could reprocess the fuel or conduct permanent disposal, Mr. Wright said.