What the FY2027 request buys
Verbatim from the R-2A exhibit for project 458 of PE 0603055D8Z. This is the budget justification's own description of work that has not happened yet — the one thing no other level of the budget carries.
In FY 2027, OECIF advances DoW's nuclear energy dominance and bolsters national security by using the same process of FY 2026, but focusing on the key topics of: • Fortifying the Domestic Nuclear Supply Chain: Conducting comprehensive supply chain gap analyses in collaboration with service branch nuclear offices and interagency partners (e.g., DOE, NNSA, etc.) and identifying critical vulnerabilities and strategic investment points within the advanced reactor market for DoW efforts. • Prioritizing Executive Order Alignment: Directly supporting recent executive orders focused on nuclear energy leadership by ensuring OECIF's investment strategies are optimally aligned with national priorities and DoW's unique energy needs. OECIF is proactively shaping the future of DoW's nuclear energy landscape through collaborative investments and strategic analyses, ensuring a secure, resilient, and technologically advanced nuclear power infrastructure that underpins warfighter capabilities and strengthens national defense and energy dominance.
The $0.658M reduction is undertaken in direct support of the President’s executive order, which prioritizes cost efficiency, transparency, and the consolidation of services. This measure represents a deliberate workforce optimization strategy designed to streamline resources while safeguarding against adverse impacts to modernization initiatives and overall mission effectiveness.
FY2026: the year under way
Prior-year accomplishments and current-year plans from the same exhibit. Context for the FY2027 plan, not a series — an activity partitions its project exactly in the request year, but can under-cover it in earlier years.
In FY 2026, the nuclear power portfolio is undergoing a strategic transformation and delivering game-changing capabilities for the DoW. By concentrating resources on fewer, higher-impact projects directly aligned with critical military operations, the portfolio is poised to accelerate the development and deployment of transformative nuclear energy solutions. This includes streamlining the proposal process and prioritizing urgent nuclear technology needs: • Operational Radioisotope Power Systems (RPS): Enabling long-duration, reliable power for remote and autonomous systems • Operational Fission Systems: Providing scalable and resilient power for forward operating bases and other critical infrastructure • Subsystems and Components for Small Modular Reactors (SMRs), and Microreactors: Driving innovation in reactor design and performance • Safety and Security Studies: Ensuring the responsible and secure deployment of nuclear technologies A key focus area for FY 2026 is developing resilient, long-lived, and low-profile spaceflight RPS for defense use cases, enabling persistent situational awareness, maneuver capabilities, and communications in the contested space domain resulting in one (1) new project with three workstreams: an industry design competition for a power system, an interagency Pu238 fuel supply chain roadmap, and DoW PI-led P&E information management and decision activities. Building upon previous successes, the nuclear power portfolio is continuing 15 technology projects that improve the supply chain and power conversion efficiency of both small and large RPS and fission subsystems and components, as well as de-risking complete fission mobile nuclear reactor systems. These critical technology development efforts include investments in advanced materials like optimized nuclear carbon/carbon, Stirling energy conversion technology, and moderator materials, driving innovation and enhancing performance. To ensure the safe, secure, and effective integration of nuclear power into military operations, the portfolio is also overseeing 4 studies into: • Multipurpose nuclear reactors • Regulatory and technology gaps for DoW nuclear applications • Cybersecurity of nuclear microgrids • Training and education for the nuclear battlefield of the future, driven by lessons learned from current conflicts This strategic realignment in FY 2026 ensures that the nuclear power portfolio is delivering the most impactful and relevant capabilities to meet the evolving needs of the DoW including closure of 7 projects.
Three years, and no five-year plan
An R-2A activity publishes the prior year, the current year and the budget year. The FYDP outyears exist at project and program-element level and are deliberately absent here rather than inferred. Estimate types are colored and never summed into one figure.
| Fiscal Year | Estimate Type | Amount ($M) |
|---|---|---|
| FY2026 | Enacted | 29.8 |
| FY2027 | Request | 29.1 |
This activity is 100% of project 458's FY2027 request and 18% of PE 0603055D8Z's. In the request year the activities under a project sum to it exactly; in the current year they under-cover it in about 9% of cases, so an activity's delta can legitimately exceed its parent's and the two must not be compared row to row.
1 activity in project 458
Every R-2A line of this project, largest FY2027 request first. Linked where the activity has enough of its own narrative to carry a page; the rest are shown in full on the project page.