AI data centers may soon be powered by retired Navy nuclear reactors from aircraft carriers and submarines — firm asks U.S. DOE for a loan guarantee to start the project

Texas-based HGP Intelligent Energy sent a proposal to the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to repurpose two retired U.S. Navy nuclear reactors for use in an AI data center project at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee, under President Donald Trump’s Genesis Mission. Bloomberg says that the company aims to use two old reactors to deliver 450 to 520 megawatts of power, but did not confirm where they would come from.

At the moment, the U.S. Navy uses Westinghouse A4W nuclear reactors to power Nimitz-class nuclear aircraft carriers (CVNs) and General Electric S8G reactors for the Los Angeles-class nuclear-powered attack submarines (SSNs). The USS Nimitz, which entered service in 1975, is already on its last deployment before entering retirement, while nearly a third of Los Angeles-class SSNs, which first started patrols in 1976, have already been decommissioned and withdrawn from service.

The World Nuclear Association reports that the U.S. Navy has operated more than 100 nuclear reactors for over 50 years without any radiologic accidents, including the aforementioned types, demonstrating their reliability.

If granted, this will be the first time a military reactor has been repurposed for civilian use. This move is expected to cost between $1 million to $4 million per megawatt — although this might seem steep, this is still a fraction of the cost of building an entirely new nuclear power plant or the various small modular reactors being proposed by tech giants like Amazon, Meta, Oracle, Microsoft, Google, and Nvidia. Aside from being more affordable than a completely new build, it would also give a second life to these retired reactors, which would otherwise be just disposed of at DOE’s Hanford Site.

The company plans to file for a loan guarantee from the Energy Department, with the entire project expected to cost $1.8 to $2.1 billion. This includes preparing the infrastructure needed to reactivate and convert the reactors for use in data centers. Once operational, HGP Intelligent Energy says it will have a revenue-sharing program with the government and establish a decommissioning fund. The latter is especially crucial as dealing with retired nuclear materials is insanely expensive, with the dismantling of the U.S.’s first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier costing over ten times more compared to its last conventional super carrier.

“We already know how to do this safely and at scale,” says HGP chief executive Gregory Forero. “And we’re fortunate to have a solid base of investors and partners who share that vision.”

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