The US Army has selected energy infrastructure developer Ameresco to negotiate long-term land leases for commercial nuclear reactor projects at two military installations.
Under the military’s Strategic Capital Initiatives and Enhanced Use Lease authority, the Massachusetts-headquartered enterprise will establish power campuses at Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland and Picatinny Arsenal in New Jersey.
The planned centers will feed power to regional commercial grids while providing back-up electricity to the bases during blackouts.
‘New Generation’ of Power Infrastructure
For the Aberdeen site, Ameresco is teaming up with North Carolina-based Terrestrial Energy to deploy its 390-megawatt Integral Molten Salt Reactor (IMSR).
IMSR produces electricity and high-temperature heat using low-enriched uranium fuel and liquid fluoride salt.
The broader framework will eventually pair the nuclear plant with natural gas power generation.
Ameresco will finance, build, and operate the power facilities on leased federal land, with construction contingent on completing federal environmental and regulatory reviews.
Meanwhile, the enterprise has yet to name a supplier for the microreactor and small modular reactor solutions planned for the New Jersey effort.
“Ameresco is honored to be among the companies selected to support the US Army’s Strategic Capital Initiatives and advance energy resilience across critical military installations,” said Nicole Bulgarino, co-president of Ameresco.
“These projects represent a significant opportunity to advance both traditional firm power generation technologies and innovative nuclear solutions, helping establish a new generation of resilient, secure energy infrastructure for defense applications.”
Parallel With Janus Program
The initiatives follow a June 2025 agreement between Ameresco and Terrestrial Energy to identify domestic locations for advanced nuclear installations.
This collaboration shares a goal with the US Department of Defense’s broader Janus Program, a $2.2-billion strategy aiming to field over 20 microreactors across in-country military bases by the end of the decade.