“Small modular reactors are unlikely to make nuclear power a cheap or widely available source of electricity in the near future. Many SMR projects have been delayed, cancelled or remain experimental. Their costs have generally increased rather than decreased. When financing, decommissioning, radioactive waste management and accident risks are taken into account, nuclear power is often more expensive than electricity generated from wind and solar” – Barry O’Halloran, Reuters.
I received in my inbox today two articles about SMR’s (small modular reactors) One from Ann Wright in Hawaii with a story in the Star Advertiser and another from Michael Clark in Dublin attached. The push is on…
Annette Brownlie
Just Peace
0431 597 256
US Military testing small nuclear reactors to replace diesel on bases in Pacific
After nearly a century of nuclear testing in the Pacific, military bombing of Hawaiian lands and the poisoning of drinking water at Red Hill, Hawaii is being lined up as a proving ground for an untested nuclear military program. A provision in the U.S. House version of the $1.15 trillion fiscal year 2027 National Defense Authorization Act orders the Pentagon to deploy a transportable nuclear reactor in the Indo-Pacific by Jan. 1, 2030, with priority for the Western Pacific, meaning Hawaii and Guam. The amendment, sponsored by U.S. Rep. Pat Harrigan of North Carolina, passed the House Armed Services Committee on a 47-9 vote.
During the markup, Hawaii U.S. Rep. Jill Tokuda was the only member to speak against it.
”We should not rush to deploy transportable nuclear microreactors anywhere until we know more about their safety, reliability and impact,” she said.
So what is a transportable nuclear microreactor? Nuclear reactors are categorized by how much power they generate, measured in megawatts (MW), or millions of watts. A hair dryer draws about 1,500 watts. A typical commercial nuclear power plant generates around 1,000 MW. A microreactor is far smaller, generating 1-2 MW, transported in parts and assembled on site. The Department of Defense’s prototype, Project Pele, produces about 1.5 MW and will not even be tested until 2027. The amendment allows reactors up to 50 MW, the scale of small modular reactors (SMRs). No matter the size or type, nuclear reactors fission uranium and produce high-level radioactive waste.
The amendment requires the reactor to be demonstrated during a major military exercise. The largest in the Pacific is RIMPAC (the Rim of the Pacific) exercise, held in Hawaii every two years, including this summer. A live demonstration would most likely be deployed on existing military land: Pohakuloa Training Area on Hawaii island or the Pacific Missile Range Facility at Barking Sands on Kauai. There it would power command posts, communications, and radar and sensor systems. Proponents talk about microreactors as if they are appliances that can be shipped, plugged in, used and shipped away. The truth is drastically different.
The Pentagon’s environmental impact statement for Pele describes the process. The reactor arrives in four shipping containers and is assembled on a concrete pad nearly an acre in area, with 400 kilograms of nuclear fuel.
Crews build a shielding structure 30 feet tall, with two-foot-thick concrete roof panels, wrapping the reactor in a jacket of 15,000 gallons of water and two-foot dirt walls to absorb the neutrons. The reactor runs for about two years, and before it’s removed, undergoes a “blowdown” that vents radioactive gas into the air. Most of the support structure becomes radioactive waste and all of the fuel becomes highly radioactive waste. The reactor itself goes into temporary storage, awaiting “eventual disposition,” until a national spentfuel repository exists to take it.
The Senate Armed Services Committee advanced its own fiscal year 2027 version 18-9, with no similar provision. Each chamber now takes its bill to the floor, where members can offer amendments to strike provisions. Tokuda’s staff confirmed she is working with other legislators to remove the Harrigan amendment. The two chambers then meet in conference to negotiate a single final defense bill. If it survives the House floor, conference is the last chance to strip it.
Before it reaches that table, Hawaii’s entire congressional delegation — Tokuda, Rep. Ed Case, Sen. Mazie Hirono and Sen. Brian Schatz — must release a joint statement opposing the deployment of untested, unproven nuclear reactors in the Pacific, and commit to keeping the Harrigan amendment out of the final bill.
Lynda Williams
Star Advertiser, June 25, 2026