The head of Russia’s Roscosmos, Yuri Borisov, has said that Russia and China are considering the possibility of building a NPP on the surface of the moon in the 2030s. “Today we are seriously considering the project, somewhere at the turn of 2033-2035, delivery and installation on the lunar surface together with our Chinese colleagues of a power plant” he said during the World Youth Festival in Sirius near Sochi.
According to RT, Borisov who was appointed to head the Russian space agency in 2022, said the technology needed for a lunar nuclear development was already almost ready. He added that Russia and China would be working together on this.
Borisov said nuclear power was the only feasible option for providing the energy needed to settle on the moon as solar energy would not be enough. He explained that only using nuclear energy will it be possible to ensure the continuous operation of future lunar station.
Russian astronautics expert Andrei Ionin told Ria Novosti that cooperation on the moon is “a universal task” and is not the task of a separate countries. With respect to Borisov’s comments, he clarified that these probably did not refer to a nuclear reactor but to radioisotope thermoelectric generators that have already been used in space.
