China is exploring the possibility of constructing a nuclear power plant on the Moon to provide energy for the International Lunar Research Station (ILRS), a joint project with Russia.
https://www.independent.co.uk/space/moon-china-nuclear-power-plant-base-russia-b2737945.html
22 Comments
Well Solar only works for two weeks so watchu gonna do, nuclear is the only option I guess
Seems reasonable. Hopefully they don’t send that much fissionable material through the atmosphere at once.
What’s with all the CCP simping? You guys realize they are an authoritarian regime that exploits it’s people, puts them in camps, and supports rogue states like North Korea and Iran?
Why having solar when you can build nuclear and refrigerate with non existing water
Jesus, can we please finish destroying this planet first?!
I wonder how they plan to manage the heat, you can’t obviously just dissipe it in the atmosphere and there isn’t not much waterÂ
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There were so many articles about China’s new Thorium reactor. Why not Thorium?
Well at least we still have stuck bottle caps here in the EU. And that is just fine…..
Ok goodluck i wanna see shipments of materials
Doesn’t seem like a great idea. Eventually, it would go into meltdown after being bombarded by space debris; then you have to deal with it leaking into the global atmosphere.
>These include large-scale solar arrays deployed on the lunar surface, along with pipelines and cables to distribute heat and electricity across the base.
Is distributing heat really going to be an issue? I would think that cooling will be necessary instead.
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I mean, NASA is planning to build one on Mars, and that may very well build on the Moon too.
In the old days this would spur American innovation and huge investments but now ehhh more interested in tax cuts and giving billionaires more billions.
Once again, the headline of a news article in no way reflects the reality of what the news article says. And what the news article says probably exaggerates reality.
The headline says “China plans to build a nuclear power plant on the Moon”
What is actually said in the article is “China is exploring the possibility of constructing a nuclear power plant on the Moon”. It also lists other power sources they are considering.
“Planning” to do something is very different from “exploring the possibility of” doing something.
The article gives a hint that this is not really likely to happen. The article says:
>The inclusion of the nuclear power unit in a Chinese space official’s presentation to officials from the 17 countries and international organisations that make up the ILRS suggests Beijing supports the idea although it has never formally announced it.
The key point here is that this is not an official announcement of any kind. There is no indication that this idea has any real backing (and funding) from the government.
People in China make lots of announcements about what they are going to do in space. But unless it is an official announcement from the government, it is meaningless.
I have no doubt that China could build this nuclear reactor on the moon if it was a government priority. But there is no indication it is a government priority. In fact this ‘announcement’ seems to be an effort by one small division in the Chinese space program to build support from others in the Chinese government to get funding for this project.
Perhaps the headline should be “Department tries to build support for funding a study to look into the possibility of building a nuclear power plant on the moon.”
That would be more accurate than the actual headline.
I mean, fusion plants seem more appropriate, although I guess fission waste not as much of an issue on the Moon (yet).
We all know that this will lead to an accident that will blow the moon out of its orbit and send it on an interstellar journey.
That is so coo, Im sure giant robots are coming.
Hey they stole my idea. I was planning that too.
Meanwhile America’s first high-speed rail will be done in 37 years.Â
USA visited the moon first so it belongs to Americans, China shouldn’t be allowed to do anything on it.