Neptunium stored at the Savannah River Site is slated to be processed at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and provide fuel for future space missions. Under the proposed program, the material would be transported from Savannah River to Oak Ridge, where it would be blended with an aluminum-metal powder, pressed into pellets, irradiated and undergo chemical processing at ORNL. After encapsulation and additional processing at Idaho National Engineering and Environmental and Los Alamos National labs, the material plutonium-238 could supply NASA's power needs for radioisotope thermoelectric generators for decades. The processing would be done at an existing ORNL facility. Bob Wham of ORNL's Nuclear Science and Technology Division said a record of decision has been signed, and the next step involves getting funding from the Department of Energy.
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