US debates cost of radioactive space fuel
NOV 08, 2011
DOI: 10.1063/PT.5.025692
NPR : Over the past half century, plutonium-238 has powered such NASA robotic spacecraft as Voyager 1 and 2, Cassini, and New Horizons, which have traveled to Jupiter, Saturn, and beyond. Although not the same plutonium isotope that is used for bombs, plutonium-238 was only produced in the US during the cold war years. Now the US, whose supply of 238Pu made it the only country to have sent spacecraft beyond Mars, is running out of the fuel and has not made plans to produce more. In the past, NASA, which uses 238Pu, has split the bill with the Department of Energy, which makes and handles the material. But Congress is balking at allocating the requested funding to DOE. Little time remains: The supply is expected to run out by 2022, and experts predict that production of new plutonium won’t be fully up and running before 2020.
© 2011 American Institute of Physics
