IRONSHIELD MicroReactors

Fort Custer Energy, Compute & Industrial Resilience Program

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IRONSHIELD establishes Fort Custer Training Center as a hardened, long-duration energy, compute, and industrial resilience anchor through the phased deployment of transportable sealed-core nuclear microreactors.

 

The program delivers guaranteed baseload power for military readiness, sovereign AI compute, and domestic industrial production while reinforcing regional grid stability.

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IRONSHIELD is designed for islanded operation, black-start capability, and modular scaling, allowing Fort Custer to function independently during grid disruption while exporting controlled power to support adjacent secure industrial and compute campuses.

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Powering Readiness. Securing Compute. Rebuilding Industry.

Project IRONSHIELD

Sub‑Programs

• IRONSHIELD‑E — Energy Resilience Division
  Nuclear microreactors, substations, transmission, black‑start and islanding

• IRONSHIELD‑911 — Compute & Digital Infrastructure Division
  AI and data‑center campuses, secure workloads, thermal integration

• IRONSHIELD‑I — Industrial Localization Division
  Advanced manufacturing, defense supply chains, robotics and automation

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This structure aligns cleanly with DoD mission areas, DOE funding lanes, and public‑private infrastructure frameworks.

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Strategic Rationale

Fort Custer provides a uniquely suitable platform for resilient energy deployment:

• ~6,600 acres of controlled‑access military land

• Existing security and emergency response infrastructure

• Buffer zones compatible with nuclear safety modeling

• Strategic positioning for Midwest grid reinforcement

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The program is framed explicitly around military resilience and national infrastructure, avoiding civilian‑only dependency models.

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Reactor Technology Overview

Reactor Class

• Transportable sealed‑core fission microreactors

• Passive safety (no active cooling dependence)

• Underground or berm‑hardened containment

• No on‑site fuel handling

• Refueling interval: 10–20 years

• Design life: 40+ years

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Per‑Unit Performance (Representative)

• Thermal output: 20–50 MWt

• Electrical output: 5–15 MWe

• Capacity factor: >95%

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Phased Deployment Plan

Phase I — Demonstration & Mission Assurance

• 2 reactors

• 20–30 MWe net

Objectives

• Establish islanded military microgrid

• Demonstrate black‑start capability

• Support base operations and secure compute

Estimated power‑on: Year 7–8

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Phase II — Operational Scale

• 6 reactors

• 60–90 MWe net

Objectives

• Full military energy resilience

• Initial sovereign AI/data‑center campus

• Industrial power commitments

• Thermal integration for cooling

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Phase III — Full Campus Deployment

• 8+ reactors

• 120–150+ MWe net

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Objectives

• National‑scale compute enablement

• Defense manufacturing clusters

• Regional grid resilience anchor

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Power Distribution & Utilities

On‑Site (Fort Custer)

• Reactor switchyard with hardened protection

• Medium‑voltage collection (13.8–34.5 kV)

• Step‑up substations at 69 kV and 138 kV

• Segmented microgrids by mission priority

• EMP‑aware electrical protection

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Dedicated Utility Runs to Midlink

• Distance: ~15–18 miles

• 69–138 kV transmission corridor

• Buried or hardened where required

• Redundant fiber in shared trench

• Smart sectionalizing and isolation

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Compute Enablement Capacity

Primary Mission: 911 Emergency Medical Informatics Compute

 

The primary compute mission of IRONSHIELD‑911 is to support the 911 Emergency Medical Informatics ecosystem, including large‑scale language models (LLMs), real‑time analytics, and decision‑support systems for emergency medical response, disaster coordination, and battlefield medicine.

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This includes:

• Real‑time triage decision support

• Multimodal LLMs for EMS, fire, law enforcement, and hospital coordination

• Edge‑to‑core model synchronization for field devices

• Continuous training on live and simulated emergency data

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The compute architecture is designed for low‑latency, high‑availability operation with hardened uptime guarantees suitable for life‑critical systems.

 

Power‑to‑Compute Translation

Approximate translation:

• 1 MW ≈ 1,000–1,500 AI accelerators (class‑dependent)

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Delivered PowerCompute Scale

20 MWe25–30k accelerators

50 MWe65–75k accelerators

100 MWe140–150k accelerators

150+ MWeFront‑rank national AI node

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Supported workloads include 911 Emergency Medical Informatics LLM training and inference, digital twins for emergency response, logistics optimization, autonomous medical systems, and secure defense analytics.

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Industrial Production Localization

IRONSHIELD‑I enables power‑intensive domestic manufacturing:

• Robotics and automation

• Defense production and sustainment

• Advanced materials

• Semiconductor‑adjacent processing

• Additive manufacturing

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Strategic benefit: long‑term power certainty, reduced offshore dependency, and capital investment stability.

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Grid Interaction

• Grid‑parallel baseload operation

• Curtailment‑free delivery

• Emergency islanding

• Black‑start export capability

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The program increases Southwest Michigan grid headroom while avoiding fossil‑fuel expansion.

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Regulatory & Governance Framework

Lead Agencies

• U.S. Department of Defense

• U.S. Department of Energy

• U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission

• Midcontinent Independent System Operator

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Indicative Timeline

Years : Milestone

0–1 : Feasibility, sponsorship, siting

1–2 : NRC pre‑application

2–4 : Licensing & NEPA

4–6 : Construction

7–8 : Phase I power

9–12 : Full campus

 

Financial Overview (Order‑of‑Magnitude)

Capital Costs

• Per microreactor (FOAK): $300M–$500M

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Campus Totals

• Phase I (2 units): $700M–$900M

• Phase II (6 units): $1.8B–$2.4B

• Phase III (8+ units): $2.5B–$3.5B

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Target Levelized Cost of Energy

• $60–$90 / MWh

• Stable for decades

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Funding Structures

• DoD energy resilience programs

• DOE demonstration funding

• Public‑private partnerships

• Long‑term PPAs

• Infrastructure bonds

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Strategic End State

Project IRONSHIELD positions Fort Custer as a permanent national asset:

• Hardened energy resilience

• Sovereign AI compute hub

• Domestic industrial backbone

• Midwest grid stabilization node

The architecture is modular, repeatable, and exportable to other U.S. military installations.

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