The Department of Energy asks the private sector for ideas to build nuclear power plants on the moon and Mars

The United States wants to build nuclear power plants that operate on the Moon and Mars, and on Friday it submitted a request for ideas from the private sector on how to do it.

The United States Department of Energy filed a formal request to build what it calls a fission surface energy system that could allow humans to live for long periods in hostile space environments.

The Idaho National Laboratory, a nuclear research facility in eastern Idaho, the Department of Energy and NASA will evaluate ideas for developing the reactor.

The laboratory has led the way in the United States in advanced reactors, some of them micro-reactors and others that can run without water for cooling.

Water-cooled nuclear reactors are the vast majority of reactors on Earth.

“Small nuclear reactors can provide the necessary power capacity for space exploration missions of interest to the federal government,” the Department of Energy wrote in the notice published on Friday.

The Department of Energy, NASA, and the Battelle Energy Alliance, the US contractor that manages the Idaho National Laboratory, plan to hold a government industry technical webcast meeting in August about the program’s expectations.

The plan has two phases. The first is to develop a reactor design. The second is to build a test reactor, send a second reactor to the moon, and develop a flight system and lander that can transport the reactor to the moon.

The goal is to have a reactor, flight system, and lander ready to go by the end of 2026.

The reactor must be capable of generating an uninterrupted electricity output of at least 10 kilowatts. The average U.S. residential home, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, Uses about 11,000 kilowatt-hours per year.

The Department of Energy said it would likely take multiple connected reactors to meet the energy needs on the moon or Mars.

Additionally, the reactor cannot weigh more than 7,700 pounds (3,500 kilograms), be capable of operating in space, operate primarily autonomously, and operate for at least 10 years.

The Department of Energy said the reactor is intended to support exploration in the moon’s southern polar region.

The agency said a specific region on the Martian surface has not yet been identified for exploration.

Edwin Lyman, director of Nuclear Energy Safety at the Union of Concerned Scientists, a nonprofit organization, said his organization is concerned that design parameters and the timeline make reactors most likely to be those that use uranium. highly enriched, they can be converted into weapons.

Nations have generally been trying to reduce the amount of enriched uranium that is produced for that reason.

“This may lead or start an international space race to build and deploy new types of reactors that require highly enriched uranium,” he said.

Earlier this week, the United Arab Emirates launched an orbiter to Mars, and China launched an orbiter, lander, and rover. The United States has already landed rovers on the red planet and plans to send another one next week.

Authorities say operating a nuclear reactor on the moon would be a first step in building a modified version to operate under the different conditions found on Mars.

“The Idaho National Laboratory has a central role in emphasizing America’s global leadership in nuclear innovation, with the advance demonstration of advanced reactors at the INL site,” said John Wagner, associate laboratory director for the Science Directorate and INL Nuclear Technology. in a sentence.

“The prospect of deploying an advanced reactor on the lunar surface is as exciting as it is challenging.”