Plutonium-238 is Crucial for Space Exploration –, – and it's Running Out 
Dec 18 2013, 03:07 PM, updated 12y ago
QUOTE
A new article in Wired highlights the fact that NASA is running out of Plutonium-238 (Pu-238), which is used to provide electricity on spacecraft that can't depend on solar power:
The country's scientific stockpile has dwindled to around 36 pounds. To put that in perspective, the battery that powers NASA's Curiosity rover, which is currently studying the surface of Mars, contains roughly 10 pounds of plutonium, and what's left has already been spoken for and then some...The nuclear crisis is so bad that affected researchers know it simply as "The Problem."
But it doesn’t have to be that way. The required materials, reactors, and infrastructure are all in place to create plutonium-238 (which, unlike plutonium-239, is practically impossible to use for a nuclear bomb). In fact, the U.S. government recently approved spending about $10 million a year to reconstitute production capabilities the nation shuttered almost two decades ago. In March, the DOE even produced a tiny amount of fresh plutonium inside a nuclear reactor in Tennessee.
It's a good start, but the crisis is far from solved.
This is an important article, and you should read all of it (go ahead, I'll wait). NASA has started the process of creating new Pu-238, but it won't reach full production until 2019, and even then it will only produce a mere 1kg - 1.5kg per year, barely enough to meet future thanks to efficiency gains from the Advanced Stirling Radioisotope Generator.
Plutonium-238 Fuel Pellet
Department of Energy
Plutonium-238 Fuel Pellet
A ceramic fuel pellet of Plutonium-238 oxide glows orange from its radioactive decay. These pellets are used inside Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generators (RTGs) to provide heat that is converted into electricity on spacecraft.
The availability of Pu-238 for space exploration is an issue the Planetary Society cares about tremendously. Without Pu-238, there would've been no mission to Pluto, no mission to Saturn, no Curiosity. It would truly devestate the future of planetary exploration if we run out. It's an issue we always talk about when we meet representatives in Congress, and we've sent multiple letters of support like this one [pdf] to congressional committees over the years.
The country's scientific stockpile has dwindled to around 36 pounds. To put that in perspective, the battery that powers NASA's Curiosity rover, which is currently studying the surface of Mars, contains roughly 10 pounds of plutonium, and what's left has already been spoken for and then some...The nuclear crisis is so bad that affected researchers know it simply as "The Problem."
But it doesn’t have to be that way. The required materials, reactors, and infrastructure are all in place to create plutonium-238 (which, unlike plutonium-239, is practically impossible to use for a nuclear bomb). In fact, the U.S. government recently approved spending about $10 million a year to reconstitute production capabilities the nation shuttered almost two decades ago. In March, the DOE even produced a tiny amount of fresh plutonium inside a nuclear reactor in Tennessee.
It's a good start, but the crisis is far from solved.
This is an important article, and you should read all of it (go ahead, I'll wait). NASA has started the process of creating new Pu-238, but it won't reach full production until 2019, and even then it will only produce a mere 1kg - 1.5kg per year, barely enough to meet future thanks to efficiency gains from the Advanced Stirling Radioisotope Generator.
Plutonium-238 Fuel Pellet
Department of Energy
Plutonium-238 Fuel Pellet
A ceramic fuel pellet of Plutonium-238 oxide glows orange from its radioactive decay. These pellets are used inside Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generators (RTGs) to provide heat that is converted into electricity on spacecraft.
The availability of Pu-238 for space exploration is an issue the Planetary Society cares about tremendously. Without Pu-238, there would've been no mission to Pluto, no mission to Saturn, no Curiosity. It would truly devestate the future of planetary exploration if we run out. It's an issue we always talk about when we meet representatives in Congress, and we've sent multiple letters of support like this one [pdf] to congressional committees over the years.
http://www.planetary.org/blogs/casey-dreie...almost-out.html
This post has been edited by atombom123: Dec 18 2013, 03:09 PM
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