Radiant Wins $750M Contract from U.S. Army to Deliver Energy Independence to U.S. Military Bases
Janus program advances national security and resilient energy to support defense installations
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Radiant, the company building the world’s only plug-in ready, transportable commercial nuclear microreactors, today announced that the U.S. Army, in partnership with the Defense Innovation Unit (DIU), has executed a binding agreement totaling up to $750 million dollars to develop and deploy 15 Kaleidos nuclear microreactors through the Army’s Janus Program. Radiant’s award is one of the largest contracts ever issued by DIU across their portfolio, and the largest award within the Janus Program.
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Rendering of Radiant’s Kaleidos installation, pending final siting, at Fort Benning.
“The U.S. Army is a savvy customer. They have the world’s top nuclear experts and know what to look for in a partner,” said Tori Shivanandan, President and Chief Operating Officer of Radiant. “The numbers tell the story. This award shows confidence in Radiant’s product and ability to manufacture, deploy, and safely operate nuclear microreactors for the American military. We thank Dr. Waksman and DIU Director Owen West for their leadership. This program will build a stronger and more resilient America while accelerating our operational excellence.”
The contract accelerates Radiant’s customer deployment of nuclear microreactors at scale. Radiant will manufacture a fleet of factory-built, fully transportable reactors capable of delivering reliable, independent power for military installations and other critical national security missions.
“The Army was very thoughtful in designing the Janus Program to capitalize on the complementary strengths of the government and private sector. They got it exactly right,” said Mike Starrett, Chief Commercial Officer at Radiant. “Through Janus, Radiant will deploy 15 reactors by 2030, identical in design to the units serving our commercial customers. Operating on military installations first gives us the reliability track record to unlock commercial deployments, and the resulting, much larger commercial volume drives down costs, letting the Government buy at scale for less. It’s a powerful accelerant for Radiant, made possible only through Janus.”
The Army launched the Janus Program to strengthen the energy resilience of military installations and mission-critical infrastructure. Radiant was chosen after extensive evaluation of reactor design, technical maturity, manufacturing readiness, deployment strategy, and commercial viability. Radiant’s 15 microreactors will enable the Army to deploy nuclear power across multiple locations. In tandem, the operational data acquired through the Program will accelerate commercial deployments across a global footprint of commercial customers.
“The Janus Program is about transitioning from designs and experiments to reliable commercial hardware which secures our energy independence,” said Dr. Jeff Waksman, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Army for Installations, Energy and Environment. “The Janus Program vendors were selected through a deeply rigorous evaluation on technical, financial, and organizational capabilities conducted by an all-star panel of dozens of experts from across the nation. We look forward to working alongside each team as they proceed toward successfully completing the rigorous technical milestones we’ve agreed upon.”
Kaleidos is a 1-megawatt nuclear microreactor, transportable by land, sea, or air and deployed directly at customer sites. Plug-in ready, each reactor provides up to five years of power before refueling and is engineered with a 20-year operating life cycle. Unlike permanently installed nuclear facilities that require long lead times and site-specific construction, Kaleidos provides energy in a box. It requires no cooling water, and it is not a “hole-in-the-ground” reactor. The reactor arrives as a sealed, fueled unit that can be plugged in immediately. Additional units can be added or relocated as energy requirements evolve. Radiant manages fueling, refueling, and spent-fuel storage at its own facilities, allowing customer sites to return to greenfield condition, within two years or less after a unit is removed. Customer sites never have onsite spent fuel storage.
Radiant’s Kaleidos reactor is undergoing the country’s most rigorous test campaign at the Idaho National Laboratory DOME facility, which was updated for small modular reactor testing in 2026. Following a competitive selection process, the Department of Energy awarded Radiant exclusive access to the facility for a full year. Kaleidos is undergoing the industry’s only full-scale, full-power, extended duration reactor test – using the same reactor design and custom spec’d fresh fuel that will be used for customers deployments.
Beyond reactor development, Radiant is standing up the entire vertically integrated industrial capability required to manufacture, fuel, deploy, and service its products. Radiant is already under construction on its 300,000-square-foot R-50 manufacturing, fueling and storage campus in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. The company will fuel its own reactors and control every step of production through end-to-end ownership of the supply chain.
The Janus award builds on Radiant’s previous selection by the Department of the Air Force and DIU to develop and operate Kaleidos microreactors at Buckley Space Force Base in Colorado.
These government deployments will further validate Kaleidos in real-world operating environments, advancing the product and demonstrating its readiness for commercial deployment. Radiant has already signed an agreement with Equinix for 20 Kaleidos units and continues to advance commercial opportunities across data centers, advanced manufacturing, critical infrastructure and other commercial applications. Radiant is decentralizing the grid, 1-megawatt at a time, and converting the grid to backup power to save money for our customers.
Radiant is a leading developer of advanced nuclear technologies focused on delivering reliable, resilient, and scalable energy solutions that are transportable by land, sea, and air. Radiant is committed to enabling a new generation of nuclear applications for commercial, industrial, and defense customers.
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