At the request of two senior lawmakers on the Senate Energy Committee, the Air Force has been exploring whether an Air Force base would be “an appropriate host for a nuclear [energy] facility,” according to William Anderson, the Air Force’s lead for energy initiatives. He told Pentagon reporters last week that the service is “in the very infancy stages” of considering this request. USAF officials have met with the Energy Department and talked with technology leaders—most of whom, Anderson said, are foreign “at this point.” They believe the latest technology, something called a “small-packaged nuclear facility,” has potential. This spring, the service plans to gather financiers, developers, and operators together for a discussion. Anderson added, “It’s worth continuing to look at.”
A new report from the Government Accountability Office calls for the Pentagon’s Chief Technology Officer to have budget certification authority over the military services’ research and development accounts—a move the services say would add a burdensome and unnecessary layer of bureaucracy.
