Origins of the MN-350 Mobile Power Module
The Concept
MobileNuclear’s origins trace back to 2018, when the U.S. Army Futures and Concepts Center first envisioned a mobile nuclear microreactor to meet operational energy needs. This sparked early collaboration between the Army, NASA Langley Research Center, and Dr. Harry Fair, who would later become a company director.
The Design
In 2019, General James Richardson, then deputy commander of Army Futures Command, visited the University of South Carolina, where the concept was further developed with Dr. Travis Knight, Chair of the Nuclear Engineering Department, and Jay Diedzic—a consultant to the university supporting Army Mobile Energy and Power initiatives. Backed by university leadership, and working in conjunction with Department of Energy National Laboratories, their research yielded a compact reactor design tailored for national security applications.
The Company
In 2022, Diedzic and Knight co-founded MobileNuclear, joined by Dr. Fair, David Winks, and Dr. Joe Turnage. The company secured exclusive global rights to the reactor design in 2023, and in 2024, Chris Pehrson joined the company as CEO to lead commercialization efforts. MobileNuclear is now in the process building, testing, and certifying the the MN-350 Mobile Power Module prototype.
ML-1 Mobile Nuclear Power Plant
The concept of a mobile nuclear reactor is not new. Over 60 years ago, from 1961 to 1965, the U.S. Army embarked on a project to build a truck-mounted nuclear reactor to provide power for tactical operations centers, field hospitals, supply depots, and mobile radars and air defense systems. Significant technical progress was made on the ML-1 but the project was abandoned as budget priorities shifted to the war in Vietnam.
Watch the video to learn more about the fascinating history of ML-1.