SAIPAN — Rep. Vincent “Kobre” Aldan has issued a public statement opposing any effort to bring Project JANUS or other nuclear energy technology to the CNMI unless residents are fully informed, fully protected under binding law, and have given clear consent, arguing that the islands are too small, too disaster-exposed, and too isolated to safely carry the risk.
The statement responds to Senate Joint Resolution 24-05, which expresses support for studying, evaluating, planning, and possibly deploying advanced nuclear energy technologies in the CNMI, including small modular reactors and microreactors, and encourages federal agencies to consider Saipan, Tinian, and Rota for feasibility studies, pilot programs, demonstration projects, and future deployment. The resolution also acknowledges that the CNMI does not have the financial capacity to independently fund the installation, operation, or long-term maintenance of such systems.
Aldan said that admission is precisely the problem. If the Commonwealth cannot fund and maintain such a system, he argued, it likely also lacks the emergency response, regulatory, medical, workforce, environmental-monitoring, and evacuation capacity needed to protect residents if something goes wrong.
He described Project JANUS as a U.S. Army next-generation nuclear power program to build commercial microreactors for national defense installations, developed through the Defense Innovation Unit, and tied it to a broader federal push reflected in Executive Order 14299 to deploy advanced nuclear technologies for national security. He pointed to the related Project Pele transportable microreactor demonstration at Idaho National Laboratory as an example of the technology’s current stage.
Much of Aldan’s statement centered on the CNMI’s geography and hazard exposure. He noted the islands’ small land area, citing roughly 46 square miles on Saipan, 39 on Tinian, and 32 on Rota, and their exposure to typhoons, earthquakes, tsunamis, storm surge, and the volcanic activity of the Mariana region. He argued that the central question is not whether a microreactor can be designed safely on paper, but whether the CNMI can withstand what happens when the support systems around a reactor are damaged by nature, citing the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi accident in Japan as a warning.
Aldan also invoked Pacific nuclear history, including U.S. weapons testing at Bikini and Enewetak atolls and Tinian’s role as the launch base for the 1945 atomic bombing missions against Hiroshima and Nagasaki, arguing that island communities have repeatedly borne risks from decisions made by powerful governments.
He set out a series of conditions he said must be written into binding law before any nuclear-related activity proceeds, including full public disclosure and consent from the affected island, full federal liability, guaranteed removal of all nuclear fuel and material, a prohibition on the CNMI becoming a nuclear storage site, independent technical review, permanent environmental monitoring, funded emergency and decommissioning plans, and proof that any project would benefit civilian ratepayers rather than only federal or military objectives.
Aldan said his position is not anti-science, anti-energy, or anti-progress, and acknowledged the CNMI’s real energy crisis, its dependence on imported fuel, high utility costs, and CUC’s vulnerabilities. But he argued nuclear technology is not a shortcut around grid modernization, renewable energy, battery storage, and utility accountability. Until binding protections exist and residents consent, he said, he cannot and will not support the direction.
SJR 24-05 expresses legislative support for studying nuclear options and does not authorize construction or deployment. No nuclear facility has been proposed for a specific site in the CNMI.