{"id":3579,"date":"2025-10-15T15:40:18","date_gmt":"2025-10-15T15:40:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/3579\/"},"modified":"2025-10-15T15:40:18","modified_gmt":"2025-10-15T15:40:18","slug":"the-original-manhattan-project-site-is-about-to-make-nuclear-history-again","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/3579\/","title":{"rendered":"The Original Manhattan Project Site Is About to Make Nuclear History Again"},"content":{"rendered":"

Oak Ridge, Tennessee, has a long history<\/a> with nuclear power. It\u2019s home to the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, the leading institution<\/a> for nuclear research in the U.S., but more famously, the city was the production hub for materials used in the Manhattan Project.<\/p>\n

And now, Oak Ridge is set to host the world\u2019s first factory for mass-produced nuclear reactors. In a statement<\/a> on October 13, California-based startup Radiant announced that it had reached an agreement with local officials to build a \u201cportable nuclear generator factory.\u201d The company premises will include portions of the K-27 and K-29 sites, which used to house gaseous diffusion plants for the Manhattan Project.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat was formerly the first Manhattan Project site will now be the site of the first portable nuclear generator production,\u201d Radiant CEO Doug Bernauer said in the statement. \u201cBy 2028, we\u2019ll be rolling out the first factory-built nuclear generator, and within a few years, we\u2019ll be producing over a dozen per year.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018Manhattan Project 2.0\u2019 <\/p>\n

Radiant is one of the 10 startups selected for the Department of Energy\u2019s (DOE) Nuclear Reactor Pilot Program. This is one of several contracts between the company and the DOE for nuclear research, which includes plans for Radiant to build and deliver trailer-sized microreactors<\/a> to U.S. military bases<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The series of agreements reflects the current administration\u2019s heightened interest in \u201cushering in a nuclear renaissance<\/a>,\u201d which DOE Secretary Chris Wright has referred<\/a> to as a \u201cManhattan Project 2.0.\u201d Specifically, the initiative, spurred by President Trump\u2019s May executive order on nuclear energy, seeks<\/a> to restructure and bolster the U.S. nuclear energy industry.<\/p>\n

Portable nuclear power <\/p>\n

If Radiant\u2019s project proceeds as planned, construction for the factory, R-50, will begin in early 2026. That keeps the company \u201con track to deliver its first mass-produced Kaleidos nuclear generator by 2028,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n

Kaleidos<\/a> is the company\u2019s high-temperature gas-cooled reactor<\/a> that uses helium gas and ceramic materials to stabilize nuclear fission. The reactor is intended to be trailer-sized, generating about 1.2 megawatts of power. The compactness of the reactor makes it a useful energy source for remote locations, such as military bases or rural areas, as well as an alternative for blackout emergencies.<\/p>\n

\"KaleidosA rendering of Radiant\u2019s Kaleidos reactor. Credit: Department of Energy <\/p>\n

\u201cTennessee is quickly emerging as the national leader in clean, reliable energy production,\u201d said Governor Bill Lee in a statement<\/a> from Tennessee\u2019s Department of Economic and Community Development (TNECD).<\/p>\n

\u201cThis investment marks the third nuclear project we\u2019ve announced since September, reinforcing the state\u2019s position at the forefront of next-generation energy innovation,\u201d added TNECD Commissioner Stuart C. McWhorter in the same statement.<\/p>\n

The project brings $280 million in investments to Oak Ridge, as well as 175 new jobs, the company said, adding that Kaleidos \u201cwill be the world\u2019s first one-megawatt portable nuclear generator capable of generating power in remote areas and providing resilient power options for military bases or disaster-relief scenarios.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Oak Ridge, Tennessee, has a long history with nuclear power. It\u2019s home to the Oak Ridge National Laboratory,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3580,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[75,84,83,3958,9,24,285,3959,63],"class_list":["post-3579","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-manhattan","tag-manhattan","tag-manhattan-headlines","tag-manhattan-news","tag-microreactors","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nuclear-energy","tag-nuclear-reactors","tag-nyc"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3579","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3579"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3579\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3580"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3579"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3579"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3579"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}