Proposal Emerges to Repurpose Decommissioned U.S. Navy Nuclear Reactors for AI Data Centers
December 29, 2025
As the U.S. Navy begins the complex and costly decades-long process of decommissioning its nuclear-powered fleet, an innovative proposal has surfaced that could address two pressing challenges: the sustainable disposal of naval reactors and the soaring energy demands of artificial intelligence infrastructure. The convergence of national defense logistics and next-generation computing highlights a potential path to leverage proven military technology for civilian technological advancement.
The issue has gained attention following the recent final deployment of the USS Nimitz (CVN-68), the Navy's oldest active nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, which arrived at Naval Base Kitsap to begin its inactivation. The carrier's decommissioning and recycling, managed by Huntington Ingalls Industries under a recently modified $33.5 million contract for initial planning, is the first of ten such processes expected for Nimitz-class carriers. This undertaking involves five phases, may take up to a decade per phase, and carries an estimated total cost exceeding $1 billion, largely due to the safe handling of its two powerful nuclear reactors.
In a novel bid to the U.S. Department of Energy, Texas-based HGP Intelligent Energy LLC has proposed repurposing reactors from retired vessels like these for a large-scale AI data center project. The company specifically eyes a facility at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee. According to reports, HGP's plan involves using two old naval reactors capable of delivering between 450 and 520 megawatts of power. The firm estimates a complete power plant using this approach could cost around $2 billion—a fraction of the cost of a new civilian nuclear plant—while bypassing significant regulatory hurdles and leveraging an existing parts supply chain built around reactors like the Westinghouse A4W models used on carriers.
However, a significant technical and security hurdle exists. As noted by industry observers, these naval reactors use weapons-grade, highly enriched uranium. "If extracted from reactor fuel rods, the 93% uranium-235 fuel could be used to make nuclear weapons, and it is considered a proliferation risk. The reactor technology itself is among the defense establishment's most closely-guarded secrets," one maritime publication explained. This is a key reason HGP has proposed Oak Ridge, a historic and secure nuclear research center with deep ties to naval nuclear programs and a ready talent pool of veterans, as the inaugural site.
The proposal's implications for the data center industry are substantial. AI data centers are notoriously power-hungry, and stable, high-density baseload power is becoming a critical constraint. Repurposing decommissioned naval reactors presents a potential solution to meet this demand while offering the Navy a way to offset a portion of its massive recycling costs for carriers and submarines. While the reactors from the USS Nimitz itself are unlikely to be used, the Navy will have hundreds of reactor compartments from retired submarines and carriers stored at facilities like the Hanford Site to manage in the coming decades, making the exploration of alternative disposal pathways increasingly relevant.
Source: Forbes
