" Eielson Air Force Base, in Fairbanks, Alaska, is the DAF’s preferred location for the pilot, and the DAF and Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) are preparing an environmental analysis for the project as a next step."
"This initiative is rooted in key legislative and executive initiatives, including Section 327 of the 2019 National Defense Authorization Act and the 2021 Executive Order 13972, which promotes small modular reactors for national defense and space exploration. "
The Air Force is going with the Oklo microreactor. Oklo’s Aurora powerhouse is a liquid sodium cooled, fast-spectrum reactor. The initial power output of the design was around 5 MWe, as I remember, but now they are talking about 15 to 75 MWe output. The reactor evidently uses heat pipes to remove core heat and is inherently walk-away safe.
One of the selling points of the Oklo design is the ability of the reactors to burn spent waste fuel from other nuclear plants. This way the waste is consumed, produces electric power, and only the shorter-lived fission products are left over.
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The name “Oklo” comes from a region in the western African country of Gabon, where natural nuclear reactors operated millions of years ago. Back then, the uranium-235 concentration was high enough, so that a natural fission chain reaction could take place under the right conditions. Examination of the fission products that are still left over proved the existence of these natural nuclear fission reactors.
The fact that those fission products are still there tells me that burying our nuclear waste deep underground is no problem, and the waste will stay there if the geology is right. Mother Nature already came up with the solution a long time ago.
_ Pete