In the US the first time in 27 years began to produce its own plutonium-238

US Department of Energy объявил that in the country for the first time since the late 1980s by the scientists Laboratory Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee produced 50 grams of plutonium-238. Production was resumed due to the fact that NASA plans to further space missions to study the moons of Jupiter and Saturn, and Pluto should serve as fuel cells for radioisotope thermoelectric generators (RTG) for space vehicles.

In the US, production of plutonium-238 was terminated due to the end of the Cold War in 1988, when he was stopped in the reactor to Саванна River , South Carolina. Some time later, in 1992 the United States for five years покупали plutonium-238 in Russia - total transaction amount for all time was $ 57.3 million in the 40 kilograms of the isotope. Bt material according to the calculations of experts should be enough for more than thirty years, but because of the emerging issues deficit of plutonium-238, it was decided to resume its production independently.

Technically, the process of obtaining plutonium as follows: neptunium-237, manufactured by Idaho National Laboratory, is mixed with aluminum and irradiated in a reactor to obtain a new isotope of neptunium-238. The latter, in turn, rapidly decomposes to form the desired isotope plutonium-238. In the early stages of the laboratory so that they plan to get from 300 to 400 grams of material, but after working out the manufacturing process, this mass will be increased to 1.5 kg. The annual production of plutonium-238 will cost $ 15 million.

Source: geektimes.ru/post/268146/