NASA Resumes Production Of Plutonium-238 Space Fuel After 25 Years
39 replies, posted
[quote]For the first time in more than two decades, the United States can put a "Made in the USA" stamp on non-weapons grade plutonium, Discovery News reports.
Plutonium-238 is an important fuel source for the radioisotope power systems that are used in spacecraft like the Mars Curiosity Rover and the New Horizon spacecraft that's on its way to Pluto. As plutonium-238 decays, it gives off enough heat to generate electricity and keep all the expensive parts of a spacecraft warm in the cold, dark nether regions of deep space.
Until 1988, the U.S. produced its plutonium-238 (not to be confused with plutonium-239, the isotope in nuclear weapons) as part of its Cold War nuclear shenanigans. After the Savannah River Site, a major contributor of plutonium-238, shut down because of environmental issues, we turned to Russia for our plutonium needs, but that supply has run out as well.
[img]http://www.popsci.com/files/imagecache/article_image_large/articles/plutonium.jpg[/img]
[/quote]
[url]http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2013-03/first-time-cold-war-us-making-plutonium-238[/url]
It looks tasty!
I want to lick it
I think that it's pretty amazing that a metal pellet heats up seemingly out of nowhere.
Thank god the anti-nuclear movement is dead.
[url]http://www.jellotime.com/[/url]
[QUOTE=D3TBS;39921692][url]http://www.jellotime.com/[/url][/QUOTE]
Officially the best website on earth
[QUOTE=Awesomecaek;39921587]It looks tasty!
I want to lick it[/QUOTE]
That block is red due to blackbody radiation. The pellet is so radioactive that it's actually heating up from the radioactivity alone. It gets to like 500ºC iirc.
[QUOTE=Awesomecaek;39921587]It looks tasty!
I want to lick it[/QUOTE]
Your tongue will get singed off in seconds, and assuming you don't die instantly from shock, you will be subjected to multiple infections and possibly radiation poisoning.
[QUOTE=Daniel Smith;39922087]Your tongue will get singed off in seconds, ad assuming you don't die instantly from shock, you will be subjected to multiple infections and possibly radiation poisoning.[/QUOTE]
Pretty sure he was joking.
snip
Hmmm, do you think they'll allow such plutonium fuel cells on manned spacecraft? The cells would probably need to be secured in a separate lead-lined generator module/deck, keep it away from the areas where most people are working.
[QUOTE=ironman17;39922113]Hmmm, do you think they'll allow such plutonium fuel cells on manned spacecraft? The cells would probably need to be secured in a separate lead-lined generator module/deck, keep it away from the areas where most people are working.[/QUOTE]
It decays by alpha radiation, which means that you could just wrap some paper around it (ignoring that it'd burn). It becomes a uranium-234 atom then, which does decay by beta radiation, but at that point you aren't looking at massive rates. Radiation is easily manageable unless it decays with a lot of gamma radiation.
Would make a nice candle
[QUOTE=Kendra;39922201]It decays by alpha radiation, which means that you could just wrap some paper around it (ignoring that it'd burn). It becomes a uranium-234 atom then, which does decay by beta radiation, but at that point you aren't looking at massive rates. Radiation is easily manageable unless it decays with a lot of gamma radiation.[/QUOTE]
Gamma's the big one; real high-frequency photons that can pass through so much matter and disconcertedly mutate organic matter. I forgot that alpha and beta are much easier to block than gamma.
Also, I forget if I asked this yonks ago, but is there any way to accelerate the decay of radioactive substances, like passing an electrical current through them or exposing them to streams of alpha particles?
Looks like strawberry flavoured.
[QUOTE=ironman17;39922309]Gamma's the big one; real high-frequency photons that can pass through so much matter and disconcertedly mutate organic matter. I forgot that alpha and beta are much easier to block than gamma.
Also, I forget if I asked this yonks ago, but is there any way to accelerate the decay of radioactive substances, like passing an electrical current through them or exposing them to streams of alpha particles?[/QUOTE]
I'm not a nuclear physicist, but I'm fairly sure not since radioactivity is due to the weak force being too weak (hehe) to hold all the protons and neutrons in an atom in a stable conformation.
You can initiate certain nuclear chain reactions by adding a single neutron. This neutron will react, and by doing so, a higher number of neutrons will be released, and therefore this will be an auto-catalytic chain reaction.
It looks like a DOT:
[IMG]http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Q53QRBeCWR4/UQtGe7zNI_I/AAAAAAAAKN0/6L_bh7v7Ya8/s1600/dots.jpg[/IMG]
[QUOTE=Kendra;39922044]That block is red due to blackbody radiation. The pellet is so radioactive that it's actually heating up from the radioactivity alone. It gets to like 500ºC iirc.[/QUOTE]
So, it's red jalapeno flavored.
[QUOTE=Kendra;39922659]I'm not a nuclear physicist, but I'm fairly sure not since radioactivity is due to the weak force being too weak (hehe) to hold all the protons and neutrons in an atom in a stable conformation.
You can initiate certain nuclear chain reactions by adding a single neutron. This neutron will react, and by doing so, a higher number of neutrons will be released, and therefore this will be an auto-catalytic chain reaction.[/QUOTE]
Holy shit that makes SO much sense! All this time I was wondering why heavier elements were so unstable, and now I realise it was because of the atoms being too large to reliably keep together. But that raises another question; what of the island of stability? What makes it so that the elements on that island aren't prone to fall apart?
[QUOTE=Daniel Smith;39922087]Your tongue will get singed off in seconds, and assuming you don't die instantly from shock, you will be subjected to multiple infections and possibly radiation poisoning.[/QUOTE]
I heard cancer tastes basically like lobster!
That is the worst looking salt lick ever.
[QUOTE=Awesomecaek;39921587]It looks tasty!
I want to lick it[/QUOTE]
Fitting avatar.
[sp]Character that can't help but want to lick everything red because "red tastes good".[/sp]
[QUOTE=Awesomecaek;39921587]It looks tasty!
I want to lick it[/QUOTE]
Yea, it even has some powdered sugar on it.
Also how long does it provide energy?
Dunno why, but it really fucks with my head to see a block of metal that heats up so greatly entirely through it's own radioactivity.
[QUOTE=ironman17;39922744]Holy shit that makes SO much sense! All this time I was wondering why heavier elements were so unstable, and now I realise it was because of the atoms being too large to reliably keep together. But that raises another question; what of the island of stability? What makes it so that the elements on that island aren't prone to fall apart?[/QUOTE]
The island of stability is more theoretical than anything, I don't think atoms of elements anywhere near that mass have been created yet.
[QUOTE=ironman17;39922744]Holy shit that makes SO much sense! All this time I was wondering why heavier elements were so unstable, and now I realise it was because of the atoms being too large to reliably keep together. But that raises another question; what of the island of stability? What makes it so that the elements on that island aren't prone to fall apart?[/QUOTE]
Island of stability is just relative. It's not like they're stable. Thing is, something like element Z=118 has isotopes which all have half lives which are stupidly short; the island of stability (predicted to be around Z=126), theorises that some isotopes there might have a half life where you could maybe do experiments which them (so, a tenth of a second to a few minutes).
Hmmm; so in theory to make an element on the island of stability you'd probably need exotic nucleons that have higher levels of nuclear force than the average proton or neutron? If nuclear force is what holds most atoms together, that is.
I'm certain that the positive charge of protons is what holds the electrons in orbit around the nucleus and completes the atom, but what's to prevent those tiny little electrons from crashing into the nucleus; is it based off of the same principles that makes the Moon orbit around the Earth and not come crashing down, or is it something completely different?
[QUOTE=ironman17;39925128]Hmmm; so in theory to make an element on the island of stability you'd probably need exotic nucleons that have higher levels of nuclear force than the average proton or neutron? If nuclear force is what holds most atoms together, that is.
I'm certain that the positive charge of protons is what holds the electrons in orbit around the nucleus and completes the atom, but what's to prevent those tiny little electrons from crashing into the nucleus; is it based off of the same principles that makes the Moon orbit around the Earth and not come crashing down, or is it something completely different?[/QUOTE]
You wouldn't need any exotic particles, just exotic means of producing new elements. It's not exactly easy to do, considering the forces required and such.
Electrons are kept from crashing by many things, one being the fact that they're speeding around at a fraction of the speed of light, and another being that repulsive forces are much greater on the sub atomic scale.
Portable radioisotope reactors are so awesome. You can run them damn near anywhere.
[QUOTE=Awesomecaek;39922837]I heard cancer tastes basically like lobster![/QUOTE]
But I'm allergic to shellfish!
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