Ohio's U.S. Senators Call for Plutonium Power Report with New Bill

摘要

Ohio's U.S. Senate delegation ordered up an extensive report on the federal infrastructure required to produce both the nuclear batteries that power NASA missions to dark and distant corners of the solar system, and the plutonium isotope that fuels those batteries. Under the Efficient Space Exploration Act, filed July 22 by U.S. Sens. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) and Robert Portman (R-Ohio), NASA and the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy would take the lead on a study to determine the space agency's exact requirements for radioisotope power systems, the plutonium-238 that fuels them, and the risks to planned missions if those needs are not met. The bill - filed at a time when the U.S. plutonium-238 supply is dwindling and budget cuts forced NASA to cancel development of a more efficient nuclear battery under development at a NASA facility in Ohio - also directs the White House to ensure the Department of Energy (DoE), which is responsible for U.S. plutonium production, does not overcharge NASA for plutonium infrastructure upgrades at DoE's Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico.