(San Francisco = Yonhap News) Correspondent Kwon Young-jeon = The United States is competing with China and Russia to build a nuclear power plant on the moon.
The U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) recently requested contractors to prepare a nuclear reactor to operate near the lunar south pole by December 2030, the New York Times (NYT) reported on the 4th (local time).
NASA stipulated that the reactor must be able to be transported into space and operate for more than five years without maintenance.
However, the target power generation capacity of this reactor is 20 kW, which is equivalent to the amount of electricity used by 16 American households.
The reason the United States is rushing to build a lunar nuclear power plant is because China and Russia are pursuing the operation of a lunar nuclear reactor.
The NYT reported that the schedule was advanced due to concerns that if Chinese and Russian nuclear reactors were built on the lunar surface, a virtual no-access zone would be established on the moon.
China and Russia plan to build a 10kW capacity lunar reactor named 'Selena' by 2036 and operate it for 10 years.
Nuclear power plants are a prerequisite for the permanent bases these countries are pursuing to build on the moon.
Currently, solar power generation and radioisotope power generation are used to drive lunar exploration rovers, but solar power generation is not stable on the moon, where night lasts for two weeks.
Accordingly, a nuclear power plant that can continuously supply power is essential for the expansion of the lunar base.
In addition to exploring the lunar base, the lunar nuclear reactor competition is also a competition to demonstrate space technology.
President Donald Trump declared superiority in the space field as part of his 'America First' policy, and Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin are also showing the same attitude.
The country that currently occupies an advantageous position in the area of โโspace nuclear power generation is Russia.
Russia already had experience putting more than 30 nuclear reactors into orbit on satellites during the 1970s and 1980s during the Cold War, and is also the largest supplier of low-enriched uranium, which is considered the safest in space.
Mikhail Kovalchuk, director of Russia's Kurchatov Research Institute, which supports the design of the lunar reactor, expressed confidence in an interview with the official TASS news agency, saying, "Russia has virtually no competitors in the field of space nuclear energy."
On the other hand, the United States launched a satellite equipped with a nuclear reactor in 1965 and operated it briefly and then stopped it. Since then, more than $20 billion has been invested in the space nuclear program, but no reactors have been relocated.
However, experts predict that the deadlines currently set by these countries will not be met.
This is because no country yet has a lander capable of dropping heavy radioactive materials onto the bumpy surface of the moon, and there are no cases of installing a nuclear reactor in a low-gravity environment.
Additionally, it is unknown exactly how much power will be needed for the yet-to-be-built lunar base, so the reactor design is expected to change several times.
Scientific experts also point out that such a plan has many safety problems.
The United States and Russia explain that the reactor will remain inactive until it reaches the moon, and the uranium fuel is also cooled, so there will be little risk of radiation even if it falls to Earth.
However, if the rocket explodes during launch or the nuclear reactor crashes into the sea, it could lead to a risk of radiation leakage.
In fact, when the Soviet military satellite 'Cosmos 954' crashed in 1978, radioactive materials were distributed over 48,000 square miles (approximately 124,000 ใข) of northern Canada.
Professor R. Scott Kemp of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) pointed out that accidents are more likely to occur on the moon.
Professor Kemp said, โIf protective measures are insufficient, even a small accident will result in more radioactive fallout,โ and expressed concern, โThere is no wind on the moon, but gravity is weak, so debris can fly far away.โ
โThe space race will always continue,โ said Edwin Lyman, director of nuclear safety at the Union of Concerned Scientists.
In particular, concerns are heightened by the fact that both the United States and Russia plan to leave expired nuclear reactors on the lunar surface rather than dismantle them.
Julien de Trullie de Lambertin, a professor at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, pointed out, "During a race, no one wants to worry about problems for which there is no solution."
Katie Huff, a professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said that in the space field, more achievements are achieved when countries cooperate rather than compete, adding, "I hope that international cooperation will expand further."
