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Nuclear Liability Beyond Earth: Who Pays for an Incident on the Lunar Surface?

 European Journal of International Law by Yunus Emre Bakiler and Güneş Ünüvar, September 2, 2026

Lunar exploration during the 20th century sought to reach, explore and, in some cases, return from the Moon,; rather than to serve as successive stages in the construction of permanent lunar infrastructure. Today, lunar missions are mostly about establishing the long-term infrastructure necessary to remain there. Under the Artemis Programme, NASA is developing phased infrastructure for long-term operations and an enduring human presence near the lunar south pole. The International Lunar Research Station (ILRS), led by China, is envisaged as an expandable facility capable of long-term robotic operation and shorter periods of human participation. Commercial entities are already involved in lunar delivery and landing services, while prospective activities extend to communications, mobility, power supply, prospecting and the use of lunar resources.

For sustained operational presence anywhere, power is a common dependency. This is certainly the case for the Moon, and nuclear power is one alternative. In January 2026, NASA and the US Department of Energy announced that they would work towards deploying such a fission surface power system  by 2030. NASA now describes “Lunar Reactor-1” as a reactor intended to land on the Moon in that year. Nuclear surface power is therefore becoming part of near-term planning for sustained lunar operations.

These developments form part of a broader and increasingly global debate over lunar governance. Among the legal questions raised is the liability regime that would apply if a nuclear incident occurred on the lunar surface, but the interaction between the international space law liability framework and the civil liability regimes developed for nuclear installations has yet to receive any scholarly and policy attention. Can a state be held liable for a nuclear incident occurring on the face of the Moon under international law? The blog post will argue that instruments available under international law, while entirely relevant, fall short of providing a conclusive answer to the question. It will also suggest a tentative model for the way forward…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

The existing UN Principles on Nuclear Power Sources and the 2009 UN–IAEA Safety Framework provide important safety guidance, but they do not create a detailed governance framework or a compensation regime. The development of lunar nuclear power should be accompanied by an equally serious effort to identify the applicable liability architecture embedded within a robust, comprehensive lunar governance framework. Once a reactor is operating on the Moon, uncertainty over fault, compensable damage, competent fora and available financial resources will be immediate realities. The legal framework should be developed alongside the technology and not in response to its first, potentially catastrophic, failure. https://www.ejiltalk.org/nuclear-liability-beyond-earth-who-pays-for-an-incident-on-the-lunar-surface/

September 7, 2026 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | business and costs, space travel