There was interest in the possible application of nuclear power to land-based military needs as early as 1952. A memo from the Secretary of Defense, dated 10 February 1954, assigned the Army the responsibility for "developing nuclear power plants to supply heat and electricity at remote and relatively inaccessible military installations." The Secretary of the Army established the Army Nuclear Power Program and assigned it to the Corps of Engineers.4
The Atomic Energy Act of 1954 made the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) responsible for R&D in the nuclear field, so that the ANPP then became a joint interagency 'activity' of the Department of the Army (DA) and the AEC. When the Atomic Energy Act was revised in 1954, Paragraph 91b authorized the Department of Defense to obtain special nuclear material for use in defense utilization facilities. The focus of the Army Nuclear Power Program was on power production facilities while the Naval Reactors Program concentrated on nuclear propulsion for submarines and ships. On 9 April 1954 the Chief of Engineers established the US Army Engineer Reactors Group to perform the missions assigned by DA. Essentially, these missions were to:5
In a Department of the Army Approved Qualitative Materiel Development Objective for Nuclear Power Plants, dated 7 January 1965, these objectives were stated for the program:6
The AEC ultimately concluded that the probability of achieving the objectives of the Army Nuclear Power Program in a timely manner and at a reasonable cost was not high enough to justify continued funding of its portion of projects to develop small, stationary, and mobile reactors. Cutbacks in military funding for long-range research and development because of the Vietnam War led the AEC to phase out its support of the program in 1966. The costs of developing and producing compact nuclear power plants were so high that they could be justified only if the reactor had a unique capability and filled a clearly defined objective backed by DOD. After that, the Army's participation in nuclear power plant research and development efforts steadily declined and eventually stopped altogether.7
Eight plants were constructed. Due to the requirement for a small physical size, all these reactors other than the MH-1A used highly enriched uranium (HEU). The MH-1A had more space to work with, and more weight-carrying capacity, so this was a low-enrichment reactor; i.e., larger and heavier. The MH-1A was briefly considered for use in Vietnam, but the idea of anything nuclear in Vietnam was quickly rejected by the State Department.8
The plants are listed in order of their initial criticality. See the gallery of photos in the next section. Sources for this data include the only known book on the ANPP, by Suid,9 and a DOE document.10
In 1961, after the SL-1 plant explosion, General Alvin Luedecke, the General Manager of the AEC, temporarily prevented the startup of the PM-2A until an interlock could be installed on the central control rod. While the interlock could be operated by personnel, General Luedecke would have to be notified first.18 The PM-2A was the only reactor besides SL-1 that had a central control rod that could startup the reactor on its own.
We gave explicit instructions on the 8th of January that this reactor, which was shut down at the time, would not be started until we had reviewed the situation. It was necessary for us to issue instructions to modify mechanisms of the PM-2A so that no single rod could be raised to a point where criticality could automatically occur.19
PM-2A successfully powered Camp Century for three years. The pressure vessel was also used to investigate neutron embrittlement in carbon steel. This plant was shut down 1963–1964. However despite the reactor's successes, Project Iceworm was never fielded and Camp Century was later abandoned.
Key to the codes:
Of the eight built, six produced operationally useful power for an extended period. Many of the designs were based on United States Naval reactors, which were proven compact reactor designs.
References for this list include the DOE document,27 the Suid book,28 and the Briefing Book.29
The Nuclear Power Plant Operator Course (NPPOC) was conducted at Ft. Belvoir. Applicants for the program were enlisted men who had to commit to serving a minimum of two years after completion of training. The requirements for admission to the NPPOC included aptitude test scores at least as stringent as those required for admission to Officer Candidate School.30 Over 1,000 Nuclear Power Plant operators were licensed between the years 1958 through 1977. The NPPOC was an intense and academically challenging year-long course.31
Pfeffer, Robert A; Macon, William A (September–October 2001). "Nuclear Power: An Option for the Army's Future". Army Logistician. 33 (5). Archived from the original on 2009-02-05. Retrieved 2017-09-18. https://web.archive.org/web/20090205175502/http://www.almc.army.mil/alog/issues/SepOct01/MS684.htm ↩
Trakimavičius, Lukas. "Is Small Really Beautiful?The Future Role of Small Modular Nuclear Reactors (SMRs) In The Military" (PDF). NATO Energy Security Centre of Excellence. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2022-07-31. Retrieved 2020-12-05. https://web.archive.org/web/20220731034722/https://www.enseccoe.org/data/public/uploads/2020/11/02.-solo-article-lukas-smr-eh-15-web-version-final.pdf ↩
COL Paul E. Roege - Can nuclear energy fill critical gaps in the military energy portfolio? @ TEAC3 - YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a1Bk_07gaSs ↩
Army Nuclear Power Program: Past, Present, Future. A briefing document prepared and presented to the Ad Hoc Study Group of the Army Scientific Advisory Panel, 10–11 February 1969 ↩
Pfeffer, Macon, Nuclear Power: An Option for the Army's Future, Army Logistician, PB 700-01-5, Vol 33, Issue 5, Sept/Oct 2001, retrieved from [1] Archived 2009-02-05 at the Wayback Machine on January 30, 2009 http://www.almc.army.mil/alog/issues/SepOct01/MS684.htm ↩
Suid, L. H., The Army's Nuclear Power Program: The Evolution of a Support Agency, Greenwood (1990), ISBN 978-0-313-27226-4 /wiki/ISBN_(identifier) ↩
Office of the Deputy Administrator for Defense Programs (January 2001), Highly Enriched Uranium: Striking A Balance - A Historical Report On The United States Highly Enriched Uranium Production, Acquisition, And Utilization Activities From 1945 Through September 30, 1996 (Revision 1 (Redacted For Public Release) ed.), U.S. Department of Energy, National Nuclear Security Administration, retrieved 2009-06-13 https://fas.org/sgp/othergov/doe/heu ↩
Stacy, Susan M. (2000). Proving the Principle - A History of The Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory, 1949-1999 (PDF). U.S. Department of Energy, Idaho Operations Office. Chapter 15. ISBN 0-16-059185-6. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-08-07. 0-16-059185-6 ↩
IDO-19311 Final Report of SL-1 Recovery Operation, Idaho Test Station, General Electric Corporation, July 27, 1962. https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1029163/m2/1/high_res_d/4763434.pdf ↩
"Nuclear Experts Probe Fatal Reactor Explosion". Times Daily. January 5, 1961. Retrieved July 30, 2010. https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=YAAsAAAAIBAJ&sjid=1MYEAAAAIBAJ&pg=4392,459966&dq=idaho+nuclear+accident&hl=en ↩
"PM-2A Nuclear Plant Sets Continuous Power Record" (PDF). Army Research and Development Magazine. Vol. 4, no. 4. Headquarters, Department of the Army. April 1963. p. 26. Archived (PDF) from the original on October 19, 2012. Retrieved September 30, 2013.{{cite magazine}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link) https://asc.army.mil/docs/pubs/alt/archives/1963/Apr_1963.PDF ↩
PM-2A https://books.google.com/books?id=jjdwo4fljmkC&dq=Alco+PM-2A&pg=PA57 ↩
Mironov, N.; Kostogarov, S.; Mamedov, A. M.; Lokhanin, G. N.; Sinitsyn, V. I.; Lokhanin, G. N.; Sinitsyn, V. I. (1961). "News of science and technology". The Soviet Journal of Atomic Energy. 9 (4): 873–887. doi:10.1007/BF01832133. S2CID 189794486. https://doi.org/10.1007%2FBF01832133 ↩
Radiation Safety and Regulation Hearings, Joint Committee on Atomic Energy, US Congress, June 12–15, 1961, including SL-1 Accident Atomic Energy Commission Investigation Board Report, Joint Committee on Atomic Energy Congress of the United States, First Session on Radiation Safety and Regulation, Washington, DC, see page 185. http://li.proquest.com/elhpdf/histcontext/HRG-1961-AEJ-0006.pdf ↩
CHARACTERISTICS OF PM-1 (SUNDANCE) https://www.osti.gov/energycitations/product.biblio.jsp?osti_id=4777680 ↩
Antarctic Environmental Awareness Pages http://www.southpolestation.com/env/env1.html ↩
"PM-3A Design and Construction". Adams Atomic Engines, Inc. Oct 1996. Archived from the original on 2 December 1998. Retrieved 2 January 2020. https://web.archive.org/web/19981202074956/http://www.ans.neep.wisc.edu/%7Eans/point_source/AEI/oct-nov96/PM3begining.html ↩
Spindler, Bill. "The Antarctic Environmental Awareness Pages". Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station. Retrieved 2 January 2020. https://southpolestation.com/env/env1.html ↩
"Westinghouse to decommission US prototype reactor". World Nuclear News. 5 August 2022. Retrieved 7 August 2022. https://www.world-nuclear-news.org/Articles/Westinghouse-to-decommission-US-prototype-reactor ↩
"Dismantling of mothballed Alaskan nuclear plant to resume". Nuclear Engineering International. 30 August 2023. Retrieved 4 September 2023. https://www.neimagazine.com/news/newsdismantling-of-mothballed-alaskan-nuclear-plant-to-resume-11109352 ↩
"Floating Nuclear Plant Sturgis Dismantled". The Maritime Executive. 16 March 2019. Retrieved 9 March 2021. https://www.maritime-executive.com/article/floating-nuclear-plant-sturgis-dismantled ↩
Suid, p. 36 ↩
"PPS History". Archived from the original on 2009-01-09. Retrieved 2009-02-26. https://web.archive.org/web/20090109040549/http://usace.army.mil/PPS/Pages/PPSHistory.aspx ↩