NASA's Plutonium Supply Dwindling; ESA To Help 173
Posted
by
timothy
from the fire-up-x10-and-k25-again dept.
from the fire-up-x10-and-k25-again dept.
astroengine writes "NASA's stockpile of the plutonium isotope Pu-238 is at a critical level, causing concern that there won't be enough fuel for future deep space missions. Pellets of Pu-238 are used inside radioisotope thermoelectric generators (or RTGs) to generate electricity for space probes traveling beyond the orbit of Mars — solar energy is too weak for solar arrays at these distances. Blocked by a contract dispute with Russia to supply Pu-238 and the US Department of Energy that has not been granted funds to produce more of the isotope, NASA lacks enough of the radioisotope to fuel the future joint NASA-ESA mission to Europa. However, the head of the European Space Agency has announced that they have plans to commence a new nuclear energy program to alleviate the situation."
Re:Recycle Nukes? (Score:4, Interesting)
A more pressing question in my mind is why aren't there any private companies making it for NASA? Does the NRC prohibit private companies from producing it?
I'm sure somewhere in the US exists a company with the technical expertise and equipment to make it. And when I'm pretty sure companies are still willing to cash government checks... I guess I don't understand "shortages" in synthesized isotopes. I heard a while back there is another isotope synthesized in Canada that we have to buy because there isn't enough in the US or something like that. I don't get it.
Re:Missed Opportunity? (Score:4, Interesting)
The best way for ESA to help... (Score:0, Interesting)
The best way for ESA to help would be to take what NASA has left and put it to Actual Productive Use by a civilized, rational people instead of in the hands of a budding theocratic dictatorship.
The sooner America no longer has access to space, the safer the rest of the us will be.
NASA had another option in 1981 (Score:5, Interesting)
Never heard anything more about it, anyone else know more?
Have you ever read "Foundation" by Asimov? (Score:4, Interesting)
At the beginning, where Isaac describes the slowly decaying Galactic civilization; that's what the United States reads like more and more.
The signs are everywhere: Leadership that's seriously out of touch with the people; infrastructure that's still good but getting worse; dwindling education, increasing racial tension and population segregation; etc.
We remember the good old days, and the good old days WERE brighter. Technology overall still advances, but what's not advancing is our position in it. Thanks to a distinctly anti-intellectual culture and an increasing distrust of "da gubbmint" combined with a ridiculous war, our economy is in a shambles, our regulations are a mess, and our population often seems more interested in "being heard" than listening long enough to identify the problems.
I find it sad to see our nation on the decline.
Re:Recycle Nukes? (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Missed Opportunity? (Score:4, Interesting)
That in itself doesn't say very much, does it?
Have you ever seen a typical home that hasn't been touched since the late 40's-50's? It had a refrigerator, a radio everyone huddled around, a single light bulb and one outlet in each room (there being very few rooms to begin with), if you were fortunate--two outlets if you're very lucky. They didn't have central air, or big screens TVs and computers humming along all day, burning through thousands upon thousands of kWh.
I see that 10% number float around from time to time. Don't know where it comes from, or if it's remotely accurate at all--but if I had to guess: should we undertake *ALL* of that energy research and weapon building today, it would be dwarfed compared to the country's power bill for A/C alone.
Re:Missed Opportunity? (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:NASA had another option in 1981 (Score:5, Interesting)
I'm sure that given some thought a workable solution could be found. I'd still like to know if anyone has heard of any work being done or did it get buried for some reason?
Does the US still have working atomic bombs? (Score:4, Interesting)
There's a real question as to whether the US still has working nuclear weapons. [defense.gov] Much of the production capability was shut down years ago. For over a decade, the US had lost the capacity to make nuclear "pits". They used to be made at Rocky Flats, which shut down in 1993. Los Alamos now has a limited production capability for new nuclear pits, but no pit made there has been tested in an actual detonation. The complete ban on nuclear testing, even underground, means there's some doubt about whether new physics packages actually work. Current practice is to build duplicates of designs from the 1970s.
One of the non-radioactive materials for H-bombs is out of production, and attempts to make more of it have not been successful.
There's also a tritium shortage. Tritium, with its short half-life, has to be replaced periodically. That's getting to be a problem.
The second team is building these things today. Early atomic bombs were designed by Nobel prizewinners. Today, the people involved are far less qualified and not very motivated. Almost everybody who ever designed a bomb that went off has retired. There's a proposal to design a "dumber bomb" with a very long shelf life, but without testing, nobody really has confidence that would work.
Re:Actually... (Score:3, Interesting)
Still, it is important to point out that Juno [wikimedia.org] is the first attempt at traveling to Jupiter using solar panels instead of RTGs... That is quite an engineering feat in and of itself. The story poster's statement of solar energy being too weak for solar arrays beyond the orbit of Mars will likely be disproved by Juno in the coming years.
They reassigned it to black projects (Score:3, Interesting)
The agency in question is probably the NRO. So basically, it has gone from NASA into the NRO black space project.
Re:Missed Opportunity? (Score:3, Interesting)
I'm living in one of those houses, built in 1950. I still need to do a bit of upgrading. Two ungrounded outlets in each room on opposite walls. Contains the following branch circuits in original fuse box:
The house was heated with an oil burner that circulated hot air by convection. The power usage expectations are so low that basically the whole house is powered off of two 15Amp circuits and the utility feed to the house is (was) 60Amp maximum.
Re:Missed Opportunity? (Score:2, Interesting)
Oh, I've seen all that before, and worse. My house was actually built in 1919 (it was a very fancy house for the age), and although it was planned infinitely better than most 50's houses I have worked on, the electrical is basically completely backwards. Every switch was switching the neutral. Every polarized outlet was wired opposite the way it should be done. I've yet to figure out how this one three-way circuit actually managed to work (4 pole switches?!).
The main (well, only) branch circuit looked like they tried to wire it in parallel between two 15A fuses. I guess, to do an even better job of protecting the 14 gauge wiring (lol). Proof that they really had no devices capable of producing even a modest load... Otherwise the house would have probably burned to the ground long ago!
Re:Have you ever read "Foundation" by Asimov? (Score:1, Interesting)
This country was founded on distrust of the government. The government is filled with people who sought power, they should be distrusted. What is unhealthy is outright rejection of any government or even any source of authority, like a de-facto hatred of cops, teachers, parents etc...
If i distrust you, we can still interact productively. If i hate you that is much more difficult.