No, don't worry, we're talking about nuclear power. NASA is working on a reactor that's designed to provide long-term power to missions on the moon and Mars.
Right now, nuclear power is the best way a Mars colony can power itself. The high levels of dust make solar power (used by some rovers) a problem because you have to constantly clean the panels. The atmosphere is too low density for wind power to be efficiently. On the moon, of course, there is no air, and very good batteries would be needed to store solar power through the fourteen "day" nights.
Which means nuclear. Fortunately, we as a species have good experience with small reactors - we use them to power submarines. Ultimately, some other form of power may take over, but for now if we're going to have colonies, we're going to have to put nukes in space. And get over our qualms about it.
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