U.S. Purchasing Soviet Nuclear Reactor

The United States is completing a deal to buy a nuclear reactor built by the Soviet Union to power systems in space, a published report says.

The intent is to study Soviet technology rather than to use the reactor in space, said a federal official who spoke to the New York Times on condition of anonymity.

The transaction would be the first major sale between the two superpowers of a technology with military potential since the Cold War ended.

The purchase is scheduled to be announced today in New Mexico at a scientific meeting, the paper said in today’s editions.

The reactor will be set up in the Albuquerque area and tested by the University of New Mexico, the Sandia National Laboratory, the Los Alamos National Laboratory and the Air Force Phillips Laboratory, the federal official said.

The reactor is an advanced version of devices that have powered Soviet spy satellites for decades.

The United States has no working nuclear reactors in orbit, though it has programs to develop them, the paper said.

Space reactors can generate more electricity than the solar panels usually found on satellites.

The reactors designed to operate up to five years in space have been considered as a way to speed a manned expedition to Mars, the newspaper said.

The device is just 6 feet wide and 12 feet long, weighs a ton and generates between 6,000 and 10,000 watts. The purchase price is said to be about $10 million.

The New Mexico symposium on space nuclear power at which the announcement is scheduled is held each year in Albuquerque. The advanced reactor is known as Topaz 2.

About two dozen Soviet scientists are to attend the meeting.