AILSA CHANG, HOST:
NASA is developing nuclear power on the moon. According to a recent directive from acting administrator Sean Duffy, the space agency will launch a nuclear reactor to the moon by 2030.
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SEAN DUFFY: We're in a race to the moon - in a race with China to the moon. And to have a base on the moon, we need energy.
CHANG: That was Duffy, speaking at a press conference this week. NPR's Geoff Brumfiel has more on what it would take to build such a reactor.
GEOFF BRUMFIEL, BYLINE: Nuclear reactors typically stay on Earth. In fact, the U.S. has only launched one into space.
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UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: April 3, 1965. Lift-off at 1:24 p.m. Pacific Standard Time.
BRUMFIEL: That experimental spacecraft is still in orbit, high above the planet, its uranium still on board. Nuclear reactors to power satellites never really caught on. Solar panels are cheaper and easier. But when it comes to the moon, there's a very good reason to think about nuclear.
ROGER MYERS: The sun sets on the moon for two weeks.
BRUMFIEL: Roger Myers is an expert on space-based reactors. He says if astronauts want to survive those long lunar nights, a nuclear reactor is about the only option.
MYERS: You have to have another source of energy. The sun and batteries does not work. We're going to have to have nuclear power.
BRUMFIEL: And it could be used to mine for resources.
BHAVYA LAL: You know, we are going to need industrial-scale power levels.
BRUMFIEL: Bhavya Lal is a former NASA official under the Biden administration. She and Myers recently wrote a report advocating for NASA to speed up its development of reactors for the moon. Up until now, the space agency has been making slow but steady progress.
LAL: NASA had actually conducted a ground test called KRUSTY back in 2018, where they tested a small kilowatt-sized reactor, and the test went really well.
BRUMFIEL: The KRUSTY reactor was developed by a group of government scientists who have since spun off a company called SpaceNukes. Patrick McClure is the chief operating officer. He says safety is a big priority. The reactors aren't turned on until they're far from Earth.
PATRICK MCCLURE: We have rules. We will not run a reactor until what were known as this nuclear-safe orbit, which is, say, something higher than about a thousand kilometers.
BRUMFIEL: The reactors his company works on can't melt down either. They're pretty small. And even if something did happen on the moon...
MCCLURE: There's no wind. There's no water that would move that radioactivity around. It would stay where it's formed.
BRUMFIEL: NASA's new nuclear plant is ambitious. The KRUSTY reactor operated at just a few kilowatts, but this new directive calls for at least a hundred kilowatts of electric power, and it's supposed to be ready to launch in just five years. Such a rapid development will likely cost billions, and that has some worried for another reason.
KATY HUFF: My concern is that this spending might come at the cost of other critical priorities.
BRUMFIEL: Katy Huff is a nuclear engineer at the University of Illinois. She's in favor of developing nuclear power for the moon, but she says it shouldn't be at the expense of other NASA missions.
HUFF: Earth science, climate observation, space-based weather forecasting - all the kinds of things that NASA does in a public-serving way for our day-to-day needs.
BRUMFIEL: In its budget for next year, the Trump administration proposes slashing funding for many of those activities. Geoff Brumfiel, NPR News.
CHANG: And NPR's Chandelis Duster contributed to this report.
(SOUNDBITE OF MOLLY LEWIS' "WIND'S LAMENT") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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