S. 2389 — ARMOR Act of 2025

This section requires the Secretary of the Army, in conjunction with the Director of the Defense Innovation Unit, to carry out a pilot program to provide resilient energy to critical infrastructure at selected Army installations in the United States through deployment of a fixed facility advanced nuclear micro-reactor or small modular reactor by December 31, 2030. The reactors must have power generation capability of up to 300 megawatts and, as feasible, connect to the commercial grid to sell excess energy under 10 U.S.C. §2916 (which authorizes military departments to sell energy from alternate energy facilities to utilities); the Secretary must consider contractor ownership and operation, Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) commercial licensing with the Secretary's advice and consent, and co-location with artificial intelligence infrastructure or data centers as consistent with military requirements. Licensing for these reactors receives priority from the NRC's Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation consistent with the Accelerating Deployment of Versatile, Advanced Nuclear for Clean Energy Act of 2024 (Public Law 118-67); other military departments may participate upon request to the Secretary of Defense with notice to the congressional defense committees; costs may be paid from any available appropriation; and authority to develop and construct reactors under the program terminates on December 31, 2035.

This section authorizes the Secretary of a military department to enter into contracts of up to 50 years for the operation of an energy production facility using an advanced nuclear reactor (as defined in 42 U.S.C. 16271(b)(1), i.e., a fission reactor with significant safety, efficiency, or flexibility improvements over reactors operating as of December 27, 2020, or a fusion reactor). Costs of such contracts may be paid from any available appropriation, and consideration may include the value of land leased for siting the facility.