MOSCOW, December 22. /TASS/. Russia has retained all competencies for developing space nuclear power plants, President of the Kurchatov Institute National Research Center and Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences Mikhail Kovalchuk told TASS in an interview.
"We have all the necessary competencies and unique experience in space, including in the development of space NPPs," he said. "Back in 1964, the Kurchatov Institute created the world’s first experimental space power plant with a nuclear reactor, the Romashka (Chamomile). It operated for thousands of hours during testing and generated a lot of power, with direct (without using a turbine) conversion of heat into electricity. Then, in the 1970s and 1980s, the USSR operated spacecraft with nuclear power plants for decades: 32 satellites of the Kosmos series were equipped with onboard Buk thermoelectric conversion reactors, and two satellites with Topaz systems (with thermionic conversion)," the official said.
"They were orbiting the Earth for nearly 20 years, successfully completing their missions. No other country has such experience," he added. The scientist recalled that the United States also experimented with nuclear power plants for space in the 1960s, but after falling behind the USSR in this area, "they switched to solar panels and chemistry — so there are no direct analogues to our Buk and Topaz systems in the United States, Europe, or China. And we have preserved this scientific and technical groundwork," Kovalchuk noted.