nuclear-news

USA making Plutonium-238 for Space Travel

Peak Plutonium-238? U.S. Starts Making Nuclear Fuel For Deep Space Missions, Forbes, William Pentland , 8 Nov 15 In the next two or three years, the U.S. Department of Energy will begin producing small quantities of a material known as plutonium-238 a trefurbished federal nuclear facilities at in Idaho and Tennessee.

When fully operational, the facilities will be able to produce a little more than three pounds of plutonium-238 every year, or about enough to fill a can of soda pop. It will be the first time plutonium-238 has been produced anywhere in the world in nearly 30 years.

Plutonium-238, a special radioactive material that does not occur in nature, emits a constant level of heat for decades as it decays. It is the primary fuel source used to power more than two-dozen U.S. space missions for spacecraft and planetary probes that cannot rely on solar energy.

Other than exploring deep space or powering decades-long experiments on the dark side of the moon, plutonium 238 is pretty much worthless. It is not suitable for use in nuclear weapons. Ditto nuclear reactors.

It was originally produced as a by-product of nuclear weapons. When the United States and Russia shuttered their nuclear weapons programs in the 1980s, the world stopped producing plutonium-238.

Not surprisingly, plutonium-238 is expensive to make – very expensive. One pound of plutonium 238 costs about $4 million to make. And that does not include the upfront investment needed to reestablish production of plutonium-238 in the United States, which is expected to cost as much as $150 million or more……

Nobody needs the U.S. space program, but at least in the United States almost everybody wants it just the same, including me. http://www.forbes.com/sites/williampentland/2015/11/08/peak-plutonium-238-u-s-starts-making-nuclear-fuel-for-deep-space-missions/

November 9, 2015 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | technology, USA