NASA Doesn't Have Enough Nuclear Fuel For Its Deep Space Missions

[Marlin]

NASA Doesn't Have Enough Nuclear Fuel For Its Deep Space Missions


https://www.forbes.com/sites/startswithabang/2018/12/13/nasa-doesnt-have-enough-nuclear-fuel-for-its-deep-space-missions/#ffd93121c183

[SloGlo]

otter gist reprocess commercial fuel, and they wood have enough to fly to the edges of the universe.

[Mounder]

The article oddly has a Greenpeace photo stating "Nuclear Madness- made in France." There is no other mention of France in the article, and their much superior fuel reprocessing abilities.  Greenpeace is protesting the plutonium portion of the reprocessing recovery, being shipped off as waste to Japan.  I believe France had been storing their plutonium/MOX for fast breeder reactors, but decided against that option a decade ago (and shipped it as waste).
Wouldn't it be smarter to convince France to save and sell their future recovered Pu-238 for the world Pu-238 space needs?  They already have the capacity.

[Marlin]

Nothing current about the status but it would seem that ORNL is not producing enough.

US restarts production of plutonium-238 to power space missions

Though PU-238 is produced in nuclear reactors, extracting it requires a prohibitively expensive isotopic separation process, so special production lines are needed.To remedy this, ORNL is developing a new production line under a US$15 million program. The process involves taking neptunium-237 (NP-237) feedstock from the Idaho National Laboratory, converting it to neptunium oxide, then mixing it with aluminum, and pressing it into high-density pellets. These are then bombarded with radiation in ORNL's High Flux Isotope Reactor to turn the NP-237 into NP-238. This, in turn, decays quickly into PU-238.

The newly made PU-238 is then dissolved, the plutonium is separated from the left-over neptunium, oxidized, and sent to the Los Alamos National Laboratory for final processing into pellets. Meanwhile, the remaining neptunium is recycled to create more plutonium. One bonus is that the new plutonium can be mixed with the existing substandard stock to bring it up to par.

https://newatlas.com/ornl-plutonium-238-production-space/41041/

With plutonium-238 sample, ORNL restores U.S. capability dormant for nearly thirty years

http://www.homelandsecuritynewswire.com/dr20160114-with-plutonium238-sample-ornl-restores-u-s-capability-dormant-for-nearly-thirty-years

[GLW]

Nothing current about the status but it would seem that ORNL is not producing enough.

US restarts production of plutonium-238 to power space missions

Though PU-238 is produced in nuclear reactors, extracting it requires a prohibitively expensive isotopic separation process,.....

oh yeah because all this:

".....so special production lines are needed.To remedy this, ORNL is developing a new production line under a US$15 million program. The process involves taking neptunium-237 (NP-237) feedstock from the Idaho National Laboratory, converting it to neptunium oxide, then mixing it with aluminum, and pressing it into high-density pellets. These are then bombarded with radiation in ORNL's High Flux Isotope Reactor to turn the NP-237 into NP-238. This, in turn, decays quickly into PU-238.

The newly made PU-238 is then dissolved, the plutonium is separated from the left-over neptunium, oxidized, and sent to the Los Alamos National Laboratory for final processing into pellets....."

is gonna be so much more less expensive when split between two national labs for production line work,...


how was that again?!?!?


oh yeah morning pre-job brief, 0730 - 0930,...


work break, 0930-0950,...


pre-work preps, 0950-1100,...


lunch, 1100-1200,...


start work, 1200-1430,...


work break, 1430-1450,...


break down jobsite, doff PPE/PCE, shower, change clothes, update paperwork for end of shift, 1450-1700,...






eeeeeyup,....

[hamsamich]

sounds like you might have worked a DOE job before.....