AIP is proud to be part of the group of scientific societies, including AAS and AGU that lobbied Congress for funding to restart Pu-238 production. As covered in the FYI, scientists at Oak Ridge National Laboratory are now reporting that they have created the first plutonium-238 made in the United States in nearly 30 years.
Pu-238 is used as a fuel for deep space missions; however, its production in the United States was halted in the 1980s as part of the end of the Cold War. The United States had been purchasing Pu-238 from other countries until supplies dwindled several years ago. Starting in 2009, the physics community began to push for restarting US production of Pu-238.
As part of the budget process, the White House requested $30 million in DOE funding in FY2010, but Congress specifically denied that funding and requested a start-up plan to include all stakeholders instead. In FY2011, the White House proposed a plan to split the cost of restarting Pu-238 between the DOE and NASA.
During this time period, AIP and other science societies mobilized to work with Congress, constituents, labs, and universities to push for funding. With the help of some congressional champions, a portion of the funding ($10 million) was allocated to NASA by Congress in FY2012. Since then, Oak Ridge was able to develop the capacity to produce Pu-238 with funding that NASA provided to the Department of Energy’s Office of Nuclear Energy.
