The Pentagon and the Department of Energy carried out a first-of-its-kind demonstration flight to show how quickly a small nuclear reactor could be moved, airlifting a microreactor from California to Utah aboard a C-17 military aircraft, according to the Pentagon and the Energy Department officials who traveled with it. The demonstration flight took place over a nearly 700-mile route and landed at Hill Air Force Base in Utah, where Energy Secretary Chris Wright and Undersecretary of Defense Michael Duffey said it marked progress in the administration’s effort to accelerate nuclear deployment.
Wright described the trip as a step toward rapid expansion of nuclear power. He said before the two-hour flight that “Today is history. A multi-megawatt, next-generation nuclear power plant is loaded in the C-17 behind us,” calling it the start of what he framed as a nuclear “renaissance.” Wright also said the microreactor transported by the military was one of at least three expected to reach “criticality”—when a nuclear reaction can sustain an ongoing series of reactions—by July 4.
Duffey, in remarks during the demonstration, tied the airlift to the administration’s emphasis on nuclear power for both military logistics and potential civilian applications. He said microreactors are designed to be portable and can “accelerate the delivery of resilient power to where it’s needed,” adding that mobile reactors could provide energy security on a military base without relying on the civilian grid. Duffey also said the demonstration flight “gets us closer to deploy nuclear power when and where it is needed to give our nation’s warfighters the tools to win in battle.”
The reactor flown to Utah was built by Valar Atomics, a California startup that produced the microreactor, according to Isaiah Taylor, the company’s chief executive. Taylor said the minivan-sized reactor can generate up to 5 megawatts of electricity, which he said would be enough to power about 5,000 homes. He said the company hopes to begin selling power on a test basis next year and reach full commercial sales in 2028.
The trip also fit into a broader regulatory and policy push by the Trump administration, which officials said is intended to speed nuclear licensing timelines. The administration has supported nuclear power as a carbon-free source of electricity while, according to the report, expressing hostility toward renewable energy and prioritizing coal and other fossil fuels. The executive actions cited in the report include orders Trump signed last year that allow Wright to approve some advanced reactor designs and projects, reducing the role of the independent Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which has regulated the U.S. nuclear industry for about five decades.
Before any future deployment that includes nuclear fuel, experts said the demonstration did not address core questions about how microreactors would perform in real-world conditions. Edwin Lyman, director of nuclear power safety at the Union of Concerned Scientists, said the flight—during which reporters, photographers, and television crews were present—amounted to what he described as “a dog-and-pony show.” In an interview, Lyman said the transport flight “doesn’t answer any questions about whether the project is feasible, economic, workable or safe — for the military and the public,” and he said the Trump administration had not made a safety case for how microreactors, once loaded with nuclear fuel, could be transported securely.
Lyman also said the administration had not resolved how nuclear waste would be disposed of, even as Wright said the Energy Department was in talks with Utah and other states about potential roles in reprocessing fuel or handling permanent disposal. Wright said the microreactor flown to Utah would be sent to the Utah San Rafael Energy Lab for testing and evaluation. Taylor said fuel would be provided by the Nevada National Security site.
In his remarks after the flight, Wright connected the demonstration to a wider energy agenda, saying, “The answer to energy is always more.” He also said that after four years of restrictions on fossil fuels and other polluting energy under the Biden administration, the new effort aims to “set everything free,” and he predicted that nuclear power would be “flying soon.”