• iconNews
  • videos
  • entertainment
  • Home
  • News
    • UK News
    • US News
    • Australia
    • Ireland
    • World News
    • Weird News
    • Viral News
    • Sport
    • Technology
    • Science
    • True Crime
    • Travel
  • Entertainment
    • Celebrity
    • TV & Film
    • Netflix
    • Music
    • Gaming
    • TikTok
  • LAD Originals
    • Say Maaate to a Mate
    • Daily Ladness
    • Lad Files
    • UOKM8?
    • FreeToBe
    • Extinct
    • Citizen Reef
  • Advertise
  • Terms
  • Privacy & Cookies
  • LADbible Group
  • UNILAD
  • SPORTbible
  • GAMINGbible
  • Tyla
  • UNILAD Tech
  • FOODbible
  • License Our Content
  • About Us & Contact
  • Jobs
  • Latest
  • Topics A-Z
  • Authors
Facebook
Instagram
X
Threads
Snapchat
TikTok
YouTube

LAD Entertainment

YouTube

LAD Stories

Submit Your Content
Plans confirmed to build a nuclear power plant on the moon

Home> News> World News

Published 20:49 23 Apr 2025 GMT+1

Plans confirmed to build a nuclear power plant on the moon

Lunar nuclear energy might sound like a Simpsons plot line, but it's the big plan

Jess Battison

Jess Battison

What’s one way of avoiding something being an eye sore in your local town? Having it built on the moon, obviously.

While the idea of a nuclear power plant setting up shop in space seems like something from a sci-fi film (or possibly the plot-line for a Simpsons episode, to be honest), plans have been confirmed.

Yep, China has plans to build a nuclear plant out on the moon in order to support a permanent research station it is planning with Russia.

In a presentation to foreign governments and international organisations in Shanghai, scientists presented the most detailed plans so far for the International Lunar Research Station (ILRS).

Advert

The permanently staffed joint base is due to be built by 2035 with China aiming to land astronauts on the moon in the next five years.

Lunar nuclear energy may be set up (VCG/VCG via Getty Images)
Lunar nuclear energy may be set up (VCG/VCG via Getty Images)

It has the Chang’e-8 mission planned for 2028 which intends to lay the groundwork for constructing this permanent, manned lunar base.

This means China is pretty much directly competing with the US, as it also wants to have astronauts based on the moon and also potentially power research and missions by lunar nuclear energy.

During the presentation, the 2028 mission's Chief Engineer Pei Zhaoyu displayed how the lunar base’s energy supply could also depend on large-scale solar arrays, and pipelines and cables for heating and electricity built on the moon's surface.

Advert

This (slightly bizarre sounding) idea to have the nuclear plant on the moon was backed up by Russia’s space agency, Roscosmos, last year when it said it planned to build a nuclear reactor on the surface by 2035 with the China National Space Administration (CNSA) to power the ILRS.

While Beijing has never formally announced support for a nuclear power unit on the moon, the inclusion of it in the international presentation suggests it supports it.

Imagine if it still looked like this on the moon (Getty Stock)
Imagine if it still looked like this on the moon (Getty Stock)

"An important question for the ILRS is power supply, and in this Russia has a natural advantage, when it comes to nuclear power plants, especially sending them into space, it leads the world, it is ahead of the United States," Wu Weiren, chief designer of China’s lunar exploration program, said to Reuters at the conference.

Wu added that they hope ‘both countries can send a nuclear reactor to the moon’.

Advert

Beijing’s partners in Russia are working on a nuclear-powered cargo space ship described as a ‘space tugboat’.

Yury Borisov, former head of Roscosmos, said in 2024: “This huge, cyclopean structure would be able, thanks to a nuclear reactor and high-power turbines, to transport large cargos from one orbit to another, collect space debris and engage in many other applications.”

Can’t wait for the Simpsons episode about this – surely there’s already been one?

Featured Image Credit: Getty Stock

Topics: China, Space, Science, Technology, Russia

Jess Battison
Jess Battison

Jess is a Senior Journalist with a love of all things pop culture. Her main interests include asking everyone in the office what they're having for tea, waiting for a new series of The Traitors and losing her voice at a Beyoncé concert. She graduated with a first in Journalism from City, University of London in 2021.

X

@jessbattison_

Advert

Advert

Advert

Choose your content:

an hour ago
3 hours ago
  • an hour ago

    Simulation reveals Amelia Earhart's 'final moments' as scientists 'finally discover' lost plane

    Back in 1937, Earhart was travelling across the globe with her navigator, Fred Noonan, when the pair disappeared

    News
  • an hour ago

    Ex-ketamine addict who spent £5,000 on drugs in a weekend reveals lowest point of his addiction

    Thomas Delaney bravely opened up about some of his toughest moments before getting clean

    News
  • 3 hours ago

    Royal Caribbean drinks package hack will save you money on future cruises

    Who doesn't love a bargain?

    News
  • 3 hours ago

    Awkward moment Emmanuel Macron left hanging by his wife as they arrive in UK for state visit

    The French President is in the UK to meet the King today (8 July)

    News
  • US space committee are currently trying to create a time zone for the moon
  • Heartbreaking meaning behind plaque on the moon consisting of 14 astronauts' names
  • Impact Russian strike on Chernobyl could have as explosive drone hits power plant in shocking footage
  • Soviet spy satellite 'threatened nuclear destruction' after uncontrollably crash landing in to Earth