Three Cheers for NASA’s Nuclear Moon Reactor

NASA makes a lot of announcements about big projects that it promises will come to fruition in a few years. Too often, those projects are delayed, pared back, or canceled entirely as the agency discovers new priorities or has new priorities imposed on it by Washington. It’s wise, therefore, not to overinvest in acting NASA Administrator Sean Duffy’s announcement that America plans to put a 100-kilowatt nuclear reactor on the surface of the moon by 2030. But if the agency and the Trump administration intend to seriously contest the next space race, this will be a vital element of America’s strategic position outside Earth’s atmosphere.

After all, it is a race — at least, it is according to Duffy. “Since March 2024, China and Russia have announced on at least three occasions a joint effort to place a reactor on the Moon by the mid-2030s,” he said in a directive announcing the initiative. “The first country to do so could potentially declare a keep-out zone, which would significantly inhibit the United States from establishing a planned Artemis presence if not there first.”

About the Author

Noah Rothman

Noah Rothman is a senior writer at National Review. His third book, Blood and Progress: A Century of Left-Wing Violence, was published by Hachette in May 2026.

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NASA makes a lot of announcements about big projects that it promises will come to fruition in a few years. Too often, those projects are delayed, pared back, or canceled entirely as the agency discovers new priorities or has new priorities imposed on it by Washington. It’s wise, therefore, not to overinvest in acting NASA Administrator Sean Duffy’s announcement that America plans to put a 100-kilowatt nuclear reactor on the surface of the moon by 2030. But if the agency and the Trump administration intend to seriously contest the next space race, this will be a vital element of America’s strategic position outside Earth’s atmosphere.

After all, it is a race — at least, it is according to Duffy. “Since March 2024, China and Russia have announced on at least three occasions a joint effort to place a reactor on the Moon by the mid-2030s,” he said in a directive announcing the initiative. “The first country to do so could potentially declare a keep-out zone, which would significantly inhibit the United States from establishing a planned Artemis presence if not there first.”

About the Author

Noah Rothman

Noah Rothman is a senior writer at National Review. His third book, Blood and Progress: A Century of Left-Wing Violence, was published by Hachette in May 2026.