Plans confirmed to build a nuclear power plant on the moon

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).

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)

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.

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)

"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’.

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?