Attached is a report on Europe's radioisotope program. They are going to use a different radioisotope than the United States.
Would it be possible that this remaining Plutonium be sold to/used by the USA? Or are there too many technical, political, security & other issues?
Third, there's no good discussion of the ASRG issue, which is more complex than they portray it.
The RPS Program will continue to construct ASCs at Sunpower in the near term, but also has begun plans with DOE for a reformulated flight hardware development project.This plan will begin with a release of a Request for Information to establish whether the industrial base for Stirling converters may be applicable to a flight system. Based on the availability of the converters, Level I and II requirements will be written for a system implementation. Subject to funding availability, this would be followed by a Request for Proposal for a system implementation, beginning with a TM phase.
In any case, it was concluded the outcome resulting from these investments would be of significant benefit to the future space science program
Not sure this is appropriate here, mentions reprocessing plutonium briefly. Is it possible this effort could lead to increased availability of Pu-238?
ORNL achieves milestone with plutonium-238 sample With the production of 50 grams of plutonium-238, researchers at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory have restored a U.S. capability dormant for nearly 30 years and set the course to provide power for NASA and other missions. The new sample, which is in the same oxide powder form used to manufacture heat sources for power systems, represents the first end-to-end demonstration of a plutonium-238 production capability in the United States since the Savannah River Plant in South Carolina ceased production of the material in the late 1980s.Researchers will analyze the sample for chemical purity and plutonium-238 content, then verify production efficiency models and determine whether adjustments need to be made before scaling up the process.“Once we automate and scale up the process, the nation will have a long-range capability to produce radioisotope power systems such as those used by NASA for deep space exploration,” said Bob Wham, who leads the project for the lab’s Nuclear Security and Isotope Technology Division.With continued NASA funding, DOE’s Oak Ridge and Idaho national laboratories can ensure that NASA’s needs are met, initially by producing 300 to 400 grams of the material per year and then, through automation and scale-up processes, by producing an average of 1.5 kilograms per year.https://www.ornl.gov/news/ornl-achieves-milestone-plutonium-238-sample
new batch of plutonium-238 at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee.“This significant achievement by our team mates at DOE signals a new renaissance in the exploration of our solar system,” said John Grunsfeld, associate administrator for NASA’s science mission directorate, in a press release. “Radioisotope power systems are a key tool to power the next generation of planetary orbiters, landers and rovers in our quest to unravel the mysteries of the universe.”