The United States, Russia and China are each trying to put a nuclear reactor on the moon, with NASA holding to a 2030 target it restated in January and Russia and China aiming for 2036.

The reactors would power permanent lunar bases and mining, Al Jazeera reported on Saturday, while scientists warn that the projects carry the risk of a radioactive accident.

The American deadline was set in writing on Tuesday, Jan. 13, when NASA and the Energy Department signed a memorandum of understanding to develop, fuel, authorize and ready a lunar surface reactor for launch by 2030, according to the Energy Department. “Achieving this future requires harnessing nuclear power,” Jared Isaacman, the NASA administrator, said, as Space.com reported.

The case for fission is the lunar night. It lasts about 14 Earth days, too long for solar panels and batteries to keep a base running, while a reactor could run for years without refueling.

The January agreement built on two earlier moves. In August 2025, Sean Duffy, the transportation secretary, who was also running NASA at the time as acting administrator, said the agency would fast-track the project and asked companies for proposals for a 100-kilowatt reactor, enough to power about 80 homes, Fox Business reported. In December, President Trump signed an executive order, “Ensuring American Space Superiority,” that called for construction of a lunar base to begin by 2030 and for a reactor to be ready to launch by then.

The agencies didn’t say what the reactor would cost, which design they would use or how it would get to the moon and be set up there. A space analyst quoted by China’s state-run Global Times said the 2030 schedule overlooked untested heavy landers, the difficulty of shedding heat in a vacuum, extreme temperature swings and the chance of a reactor fault.

Russia and China started talking about a lunar power plant earlier. In March 2024, Yury Borisov, then the head of Roscosmos, said the two countries were considering putting one on the moon in 2033 to 2035, arguing that solar power wouldn’t be enough for future settlements.

In May 2025, during a visit to Moscow by President Xi Jinping, the China National Space Administration and Roscosmos signed an agreement on a reactor to power the International Lunar Research Station, a jointly planned base meant to be operating by 2036, The South China Morning Post reported.

Roscosmos then signed a contract with the spacecraft maker NPO Lavochkin to build a Russian lunar power plant by 2036, with missions to the moon in 2033, 2034 and 2035, according to World Nuclear News. Roscosmos didn’t call the plant nuclear. Its partners on the work include Rosatom, the state nuclear corporation, and the Kurchatov Institute, Russia’s leading nuclear research center.

Russia’s recent record on the moon is one landing attempt. Its Luna-25 probe, the country’s first lunar mission in 47 years, spun out of control and crashed in 2023.

The 2036 date also depends on missions that haven’t flown. The next Russian lander, Luna-27, isn’t due to touch down before 2028, SpaceDaily reported, and the agreement with China is still a memorandum, not a funded, binding deal.