Last August U.S. Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy, who at the time was also the acting administrator of NASA, announced his intention to see a nuclear reactor placed on the moon by 2030. You don’t have to be an expert in nuclear physics or spaceflight to know that his plan is, shall we say, ambitious. But the idea of popping a nuclear power plant on the lunar surface isn’t necessarily the sci-fi disaster movie plotline you might be envisioning. Plenty of experts say it actually makes perfect sense—as long as we take our time.
Here to tell us more is Robin George Andrews. He’s a volcanologist turned science journalist who writes about the earth, space and planetary sciences. He’s also the author of a feature in Scientific American’s June 2026 issue all about the dream of going nuclear on the moon.
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