The US Department of Defence on Monday issued three contracts for companies to start design work on mobile, small nuclear reactors, as part of a plan towards achieving nuclear power for US forces at home and abroad.The DOD awarded contracts to Westinghouse Government Services of Washington for $11.9m; BWX Technologies of Virginia for $13.5m; and X-energy of Maryland for $14.3m, to begin a two-year engineering design competition for a nuclear microreactor designed to potentially be deployed with forces.The combined $39.7m in contracts are from Project Pele, a project to develop a prototype microreactor in the 1-5 MW power range. The Department of Energy has been supporting the project at its Idaho National Laboratory.