The European Space Agency (ESA) has awarded a contract to Belgian company Tractebel to evaluate the possibility of producing plutonium-238 (Pu-238) for use in space exploration. Separately, US company X-energy, working as part of a General Atomics Electromagnetic Systems (GA-EMS) team, is to develop key fuel fabrication processes in support of a first-of-a-kind rocket powered by nuclear thermal propulsion under a contract awarded by the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).

Radioisotope power sources - sometimes referred to as nuclear batteries - fueled with Pu-238 have been used in space missions since the early 1960s. Radioisotope thermoelectric generators and radioisotope heater units can provide power and heat continuously over long, deep space missions. Pu-238 is made by irradiating neptunium-237, recovered from research reactor fuel or special targets, in research reactors; but at present only Russia and the USA have the capability to produce the isotope.

Brieuc Spindler, Tractebel's Product Owner - Space, said the study will contribute to making European space exploration more independent. "With a team of multidisciplinary experts, we will analyze the capability of Europe to develop its own supply chain of plutonium 238," he said. He added that "It has the best technical characteristics for space applications, but has never been developed in Europe. It is our first contract with ESA, and what we hope marks the beginning of a fruitful cooperation.”

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Source: world nuclear news