China builds world's most powerful nuclear power plant
It is also the world's first space nuclear power plant to generate one megawatt (1000 kW) of electricity.
China has developed a prototype of a nuclear power plant for use in space that could generate one megawatt of electricity. It can generate more than 100 times more electricity. NASA aims to land its new nuclear power plant on the moon by 2030.
The Chinese space nuclear power plant was discovered by the Hong Kong-based English newspaper South China Morning Post in a recent report by its Beijing correspondent Stephen Chen. More details about the nuclear power plant are not available, as the Chinese government has kept most of the information about nuclear power plants secret in its space program.
However, it is known that the purpose of this nuclear power plant is to provide long-term energy to the proposed spacecraft to be sent to the moon, Mars and distant planets. Work on this project was started in 2019 with the funding of Chinese government. In recent days, however, it has crossed the first milestone in the form of its first prototype.
This would be especially useful for situations and places where sunlight is either much dimmer than the Earth's or it fluctuates so frequently that solar energy cannot be relied upon. China's plan From 2023 to 2030, a large number of spacecraft are to be sent to the dark side of the moon (which is always in the opposite direction to the Earth) and to Mars.
In addition, it has already announced that it will send the first manned flight to Mars by 2030. The South China Morning Post reported, without revealing the identity of a Chinese nuclear scientist, that the space nuclear power plant would be short-lived. The technology has been remarkably advanced to enable it to generate more electricity with its size. Most projects to generate 300 kilowatts of electricity are still in the process of completion. In that sense, it is also the world's first space nuclear power plant that will generate as much as one megawatt of electricity.