For generations, Indiana has relied heavily on coal to produce electricity. Coal mines helped shape communities across southwestern Indiana, providing employment, supporting local economies, and powering homes and industries throughout the Midwest.
Now, a different form of energy production is preparing to establish a foothold in the same region.
Naval Weapons Station Crane, the sprawling military installation in southern Indiana, has been selected as the site of what is expected to become the state’s first power-producing nuclear reactor.
The project represents a milestone for Indiana, which has never operated a commercial nuclear power plant, despite neighboring states having relied on nuclear-generated electricity for decades.
In September, the Department of Defense announced plans to deploy an advanced nuclear microreactor at Crane by September 2028. On October 20th, California-based Radiant Industries announced that the U.S. Navy had selected its Kaleidos microreactor for the project.
Unlike conventional nuclear generating stations, the Kaleidos is designed to be small, factory-built, and transportable. The reactor is expected to produce approximately one megawatt of electricity and operate for up to five years before requiring refueling.
Its purpose is not to supply surrounding communities or replace existing power plants. Instead, it would provide electricity for critical military operations, allowing designated facilities at Crane to function independently of the commercial electrical grid.
That capability is increasingly important as military installations confront potential disruptions from severe weather, equipment failures, cyberattacks, and other threats to electrical infrastructure.
The project is part of the U.S. Army’s Janus Program, an initiative to deploy advanced nuclear technology at military installations through cooperation among the armed forces, federal agencies, and participating states.
Indiana is not entirely unfamiliar with nuclear technology. Purdue University has operated a small research reactor since the 1960s, although it was designed for education and scientific research rather than electrical generation.
The proposed installation at Crane would mark a different milestone: the production of usable electrical power from a nuclear reactor within Indiana’s borders.
The location also carries a certain historical irony.
Southwestern Indiana’s coalfields were once central to the state’s energy economy, and coal remains part of the region’s industrial identity. That the state’s first power-producing nuclear reactor could operate here illustrates how the nation’s energy landscape continues to evolve.
The Crane project is primarily about national security and operational reliability, though, rather than replacing coal-fired electricity generation.
The reactor is not yet ready for operation. Radiant’s technology remains in testing, and the installation must undergo additional engineering, environmental review, regulatory coordination, and site preparation. September 2028 remains a target rather than a certainty.
Questions about nuclear fuel management, emergency preparedness, environmental oversight, and long-term operations will remain important as the project advances.
Although the Navy has decades of experience operating nuclear reactors aboard ships and submarines, a transportable microreactor represents a different application of the technology, requiring its own safety evaluations.
For Indiana, the significance extends beyond the relatively modest amount of electricity the reactor would generate.
A state long associated with coal and natural gas is preparing to enter a new era of nuclear power generation, not through a conventional utility project, but through a compact reactor serving a major military installation.
If the project proceeds as planned, a new chapter in Indiana’s energy history will begin at Crane, in a region where energy production has helped define the local economy for more than a century.