Andrei Babkin, deputy commander of the cosmonaut detachment at Russia’s space
corporation, said a nuclear power plant on the Moon is a prerequisite for
further exploration, including crewed missions, adding “without such a plant,
further lunar exploration is simply impossible.” He cited the ~14-Earth-day
lunar night and extreme cold as reasons nuclear is the only reliable, safe power
solution. Rosatom chief Alexey Likhachev has said Russia plans to build its
first lunar nuclear power plant by the mid-2030s.
