NASA Restarts PU-238 Production at Two Sites

Darlington power plant helps fuel NASA’s space exploration

A Canadian nuclear plant is stepping up to ensure NASA’s ongoing exploration of deep space continues for years to come.

The Darlington Nuclear Generating Station in Clarington, Ontario will produce and harvest Plutonium-238, a spacecraft fueling agent, for NASA.

Ontario Power Generation (OPG) and its venture arm, Canadian Nuclear Partners, have teamed up to fill the gap left after the United States stopped producing the glowing oxide pellet back in 1988.

NASA is teaming up with OPG’s nuclear facilities to replenish their inventory and fuel their existing (and future) fleet of space probes.

Plutonium-238 acts like a battery to space craft. By emitting steady heat through natural radioactive decay, and using a solid state thermo-couple, it produces electricity aboard the craft to fuel it and keep scientific equipment warm enough to function in space.

On the Web

NASA Radioisotope Power Systems – home page
https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/rps/rtg.cfm

Advanced Stirling Radioisotope Generator – design overview and future plans
http://anstd.ans.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/1010.pdf

To read more please visit http://www.theenergycollective.com/dan-yurman/2399769/nasa-restarts-pu-238-production-two-sites

Source: The Energy Collective