Nuclear power is fast becoming the centerpiece of a new moon race and, as Selam Gebrekidan reports in the New York Times, this one carries radioactive stakes. NASA has told contractors to be ready to launch a small nuclear reactor to the moon’s south pole by the end of 2030, an ambitious timeline accelerated in part by a Chinese-Russian plan to switch on their own lunar reactor, dubbed Selena, by 2036. Each side sees steady power as essential to building permanent moon bases, mining resources like ice, and using the moon as a springboard deeper into the solar system.
The push is colliding with serious safety, technical, and geopolitical questions. No one has ever landed and operated a reactor in low gravity, and recent Chinese, American, and Russian launch failures highlight the risk of rocket explosions or defective landings, which could scatter nuclear material on Earth or turn parts of the moon into off-limits zones. Fuel is another flash point: the safest option is scarce, Russia dominates supply, and highly enriched uranium raises weapons concerns. For a deeper look at the push and the safety puzzles that remain unsolved, read the piece at the Times.