The Department of Energy released a request for information (RFI) last week seeking input from the industry to assess the United States’ readiness to deploy up to four nuclear reactors into space within five years.
DOE’s solicitation, published April 21, looks for additional information to evaluate potential challenges or gaps related to reactor design, workforce and nuclear fuel capabilities for the space reactors. The RFI also seeks answers on what actions are needed in the near-term (12 months) and the long-term (one to five years) future and who should take them, DOE said.
The RFI aims to inform and support DOE’s mission for developing space nuclear power systems to advance the country’s scientific and space exploration goals, according to the document. DOE’s Idaho National Laboratory will conduct the assessment on behalf of DOE.
Submissions for the RFI must be sent to chase.egbert@inl.gov by May 5. Questions on the RFI should be directed to Sebastian Corbisiero, national technical director for DOE space reactor program, at sebastian.corbisiero@inl.gov.
The assessment is also technology-inclusive, so responders to the RFI should describe their capability against the parameter bands rather than against any specific design, according to the document.
The RFI comes as a part of the White House’s Office of Science and Technology Policy’s National Initiative for American Space Nuclear Power directive released April 14. The initiative called for DOE to provide an assessment, within 60 days of the memorandum, on the readiness of the U.S. nuclear reactor industrial base to produce up to four space reactors within five years.
The Donald Trump White House has been looking to nuclear energy to aid in the administration’s space exploration goals. In December 2025, Trump issued the executive order Ensuring American Space Superiority that seeks to deploy a nuclear reactor on the moon by 2030 and deploy a reactor in orbit as early as 2028.
DOE entered into an interagency memorandum of understanding in January with NASA to collaborate on the moon reactor mission.