The US Air Force wants to deploy a nuclear micro-reactor on the Eielson base in Alaska

A time almost abandoned, the Eielson air base, located about forty kilometers from Fairbanks in Alaska, now hosts the 354th fighter group, strong of the 18th Agressor squadron aligning 18 F-16 C / D, as well as 355th and 356th Fighter Squadrons for 54 F-35As. In addition, there are the 168th in-flight restoration squadron mounted on KC-135 Stratotankers, and the 210th rescue squadron on HH-60G Pave Hawks. In total, there are now more than 3500 men and women who live and work on this air base with a runway of almost 4500 meters, to ensure the protection of the airspace above Alaska and the North Pacific, as well as to organize Exercise RED FLAG-Alaska. In 1989, the base was also integrated into the federal environmental program Superfund, when numerous traces of aeronautical pollutants were observed on the site.

On September 26, the Department of the Air Force in partnership with the Energy Defense Agency, launched a call for proposals for equip and operate the Eielson base with a nuclear micro-reactor in order to supply all the installations independently of the civil electricity grid on which it depends. For the US Air Force, it is a question of evaluating the effectiveness of this device for supplying isolated bases in an autonomous manner and devoid of greenhouse gas emissions, and therefore of securing the electricity supply while by reducing the logistical burden of this constraint. According to the published RFI, potential service providers have until October 12 to bid, while the announced objective is to make the device operational by 2027. The micro-reactor will be subject to a license from the Department of Energy, but the offer must be exclusively commercial, both for its installation and for its implementation.

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