Work

History of Pu-238 Production Restart Efforts at Idaho National Laboratory and Oak Ridge National Laboratory

Year: 2024

Type: article

Abstract: In the early 2010s, efforts to restart production in the U.S. of plutonium-238 heat source (HSPu) material for NASA deep space missions were initiated. Processes, procedures, hardware, and chemical separations were developed and implemented to enable the production of heat source material at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) and Idaho National Laboratory (INL). This review provides an overview of the timeline and efforts associated with the restart of production, as well as upcoming efforts to increase production.

Source: IEEE Transactions on Nuclear Science

DOI: 10.1109/tns.2024.3497876

Authors: Andrew Zillmer, Richard Howard, David Chandler, Adam Parkison

Institutions: Idaho National Laboratory, Oak Ridge National Laboratory

Language: English

Topic: Nuclear reactor physics and engineering

Subfield: Aerospace Engineering

Field: Engineering

Domain: Physical Sciences

Open Access status: green

Funders: U.S. Department of Energy, National Aeronautics and Space Administration