[NukeNet] More on PU Shortage and NASA Missions

[Felice & Jack Cohen-Joppa]

Dear Jeannine,

First, I, Jack, am the only one writing here on this topic.  Felice & 
I just share our email address as editors of the Nuclear Resister.

As Kay noted, I "was merely trying to clarify between plutonium 238 
and 239, largely because of [Kay's] posting."  My first six words 
were "Just for the sake of clarity..."  I was sensing a 
misunderstanding about which isotopes are used for what.  I had hoped 
to add light, not heat, to the discussion. Thanks to Glenn Carroll & 
Robert Alvarez for their further clarification about Pu238 use and 
production.

Thanks also Kay (& Molly), for noting correctly that Felice & I have 
been opposed to nukes for decades and are "not advocating production 
of plutonium, in any way, shape or form."

Jeannine, for the record, in April I'll be on a panel with Harvey 
Wasserman and others at the 30th anniversary gathering of the Rocky 
Flats Truth Force (see http://truthforce.net/ & scroll down to 
Sunday.  & if you'd like, you'll find me 30 years ago on the Decision 
at Rocky Flats video on this page
http://truthforce.net/index.php?option=com_weblinks&catid=13&Itemid=23
It's produced from our 1978 trial for trespass at Rocky Flats, and 
includes Drs. Karl Morgan, John Gofman, Alice Stewart & others 
testifying on our behalf.)

& as Kay notes, we have no ties to the government (beyond those that 
ensnare most of us without our consent).

Peace and no nukes!

Jack Cohen-Joppa

At 5:39 AM -0700 3/15/08, Dolph Honicker wrote:
>Subject: [no-new-nukes-yall] RE: [NukeNet] More on PU Shortage and 
>NASA  Missions
>
>To:  Felice & Jack Cohen-Joppa:
>
>If and until MOX fuel is developed and used in Nuclear Power Plants, 
>plutonium is not a fuel for nuclear power plants, it is produced in 
>the fuel and becomes a part of the waste, or if reprocessed, a part 
>of the material for nuclear bombs.  What was the purpose of your 
>response below? 
>
>Do you support any of the following:
>
>(1) MOX fuel production and use?
>
>(2) GNEP?
>
>(3) Complex Transformation, Bombplex?
>
>(4) More nuclear weapons?
>
>(5)  More nuclear power plants?
>
>(6) Bringing nuclear waste from other nations to the U.S. as
>Energy Solutions is now proposing?
>
>(7)  Allowing nuclear waste to be "disposed" of in commercial landfills?
>
>(8) Melting of radioactive metals and recycling them in consumer products?
>
>(9)  Using adult white males as the basis for radiation dose 
>calculations, ignoring the most radiosensitive of the population, 
>young children and fetuses?
>
>(10) Ignoring inhalation and ingestion in calculating radiation doses to the 
>
>
>What ties do you have to the nuclear industry or any of it's 
>government, or  research arms?
>
>
>Jeannine Honicker
>
>
>
>Date: Sun, 9 Mar 2008 21:29:02 -0700
>To: kcumbow at greatlakes.net; djhonicker at msn.com
>From: nukeresister at igc.org
>CC: no-new-nukes-yall at yahoogroups.com; nukenet at energyjustice.net
>Subject: Re: [NukeNet] More on PU Shortage and NASA Missions
>
>Just for the sake of clarity, the Pu-238 used for thermoelectric 
>generators is not the isotope used in weapons, and in fact is 
>uncommon among the Pu isotopes, as it is not among the isotopes in 
>waste from nuclear reactors and is cumbersome to produce and 
>isolate:  following is from the Wikipedia page:
>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plutonium-238
>
>"Plutonium 238, is a radioactive isotope of plutonium with a 
>half-life of 87.7 years and is a very powerful alpha emitter. 
>Because of its high level of alpha activity, it is used for 
>radioisotope thermoelectric generators and radioisotope heater 
>units. The use of plutonium-238 in American and Russian (and old 
>Soviet Union) spacecraft is somewhat controversial.
>
>"Plutonium-238 was the first isotope of plutonium to be discovered. 
>It was synthesized by Glenn Seaborg and associates in 1941 by 
>bombarding uranium-238 with deuterons. Neptunium-238 is made as an 
>intermediate product, which then decays to form plutonium-238. 
>Plutonium-238 decays to Uranium-234 and then further along the 
>radium series to Lead-206.
>
>"Today, Plutonium 238 is usually prepared by the irradiation of 
>neptunium 237, a minor actinide produced in nuclear reactors, that 
>can be recovered from spent nuclear fuel during reprocessing, or by 
>the irradiation of americium in a reactor. In both cases, the 
>targets are subjected to a chemical treatment, including dissolution 
>in nitric acid to extract the plutonium-238. A 100kg sample of light 
>water reactor fuel that has been irradiated for three years contains 
>only about 700 grams of neptunium 237, and the neptunium must be 
>extracted selectively.
>
>"The United States currently has limited facilities to produce 
>plutonium-238. Since 1993, the U.S. has purchased all of the 
>plutonium-238 it has used in space probes from Russia. 16.5 
>kilograms total have been purchased.[1]"
>
>Jack

-- 
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