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United States Eyes Build Moon and Mars Nuclear Power Plants
The U.S. wants to build nuclear power plants that will work on the moon and Mars and on Friday put out a private sector request for ideas on how to do that.
The U.S. Department of Energy issued the formal request to build what it calls a surface fission power system that could allow people to live in harsh space environments for long periods of time.
The reactor technology proposals will be tested by the Idaho National Laboratory, a nuclear testing center in eastern Idaho, the Energy Department and NASA.
The laboratory has been leading the way on advanced reactors in the U.S., some of them micro-reactors and others that can operate for cooling without water.
The vast majority of reactors on Earth contain water-cooled nuclear reactors.
Small nuclear reactors will provide the Federal Government with the power capacity required for space exploration missions of interest, the Department of Energy wrote in the notice published Friday.
The Energy Department, NASA, and Battelle Energy Alliance, the U.S. contractor that runs the Idaho National Laboratory, are planning to hold a technical government-industry webcast meeting in August regarding program expectations.
There are two phases to the program. The first is the construction of a concept reactor.
The second is the construction of a test reactor, the sending of a second reactor to the moon, and the development of a flight system and lander which can transport the reactor into the moon.
The goal is to have a flight system, a reactor and a lander ready to go by the end of 2026.
The reactor must be able to produce at least 10 kilowatts of uninterrupted electric power output. According to the U.S., the average US residential home. Energy Information Administration uses about 11,000 kilowatt-hours annually. The Energy Department said multiple linked reactors would likely be needed on the moon or Mars to meet the power needs.
Furthermore, the reactor is not able to weigh more than 7,700 pounds (3,500 kilograms), operate in space, operate mostly autonomously, and run for at least 10 years.
The Department of Energy said the reactor is planned to promote exploration in the moon's south polar region. A specific region on the Martian surface has not yet been identified for exploration, the agency said.
Edwin Lyman, director of Nuclear Power Security at the Union of Concerned Scientists, a non-profit group, said his group is concerned with the design and timetable constraints making the most likely reactors those that use highly enriched uranium that can be turned into weapons.
Of this purpose, nations have traditionally tried to reduce the amount of enriched uranium being produced.
It can push or launch an international space race for the design and implementation of new types of reactors that need highly enriched uranium, he said.
The United Arab Emirates launched an orbiter to Mars earlier this week, with China launching an orbiter, a lander and a rover. The U.S. has landed rovers on the red planet twice, with expects to send another one next week.
Officials say it would be a first step to build a modified version to operate under the various conditions found on Mars by operating a nuclear reactor on the Moon.
Idaho National Laboratory plays a central role in highlighting the United States' global leadership in nuclear innovation, with the anticipated demonstration of advanced reactors on the INL site," said John Wagner, associate laboratory director of INL's Directorate of Nuclear Science & Technology. "The prospect of an advanced reactor being deployed to the lunar surface is as exciting as it is challenging.
