About the Lecture Space reactors powering space mining or human settlements on the Moon are no longer a utopia. Several projects are already planned to bring nuclear reactors into operation on the Moon in the third decade of this millennium. In December 2025, the executive order on Ensuring American Space Superiority was issued in the USA—the first-ever legal regulation that explicitly addresses the deployment of reactors on the Moon by 2030. Nuclear energy will play an integral role in further exploration of Outer Space, but a transparent legal framework is a major prerequisite for deploying future lunar reactors. This lecture will explore a fundamental question: what legal framework should govern the deployment of nuclear reactors on the Moon (and Beyond)? Against this background, the lecture will explore whether the existing regimes of international space law and international nuclear law can regulate the future deployment of lunar reactors and what a future framework for “space nuclear law” might look like.

About the Speaker Professor Jakub Handrlica is a professor at the Law School, Charles University in Prague  and Space Law Module Coordinator at the LUISS University in Rome. His main areas of research are the law of new technologies, energy law, nuclear law and space law. He has regularly published articles on these topics in international journals, such as the Journal of World Energy Law & Business, the Journal of Energy & Natural Resources Law, Review of European, Comparative & International Environmental Law, etc. Recently, he has been working on a new book with the working title Advanced Introduction to Modern Nuclear Law. He is a member of the International Nuclear Law Association, International Institute of Space Law and since 2024, the OECD Nuclear Energy Agency Global Forum Working Group 5: Re-establishing nuclear law education programmes. For further information, see: https://www.prf.cuni.cz/en/detail-cloveka/630937 

MODERATOR: Nivedita S, Research Fellow, NUS Centre for International Law

1 Public CPD Point
Practice Area: International Law
Training Category: General

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