Ways to help let the DOE know your concerns about this project:
- Write a letter to the editor to the local Jackson newspapers, as well as the Casper Star Tribune. Use the attached talking points to help you convey your message.
- Make a tax-deductible financial contribution to Keep Yellowstone Nuclear Free to help us oppose this project. Please make your donation through Old Bill’s Fun Run. Contact the Community Foundation of Jackson Hole at www.cfjacksonhole.org or (307) 739-1026.
- Email our U.S. Congressional delegation and express your opinion through their websites:
- Contact Governor Freudenthal at : governor@state.wy.us
Project Information
The Department of Energy is proposing consolidating its program for Radioisotope Power Systems (RPS) at INL. This plan is intended to make INL the nation’s centralized site for the production of plutonium-238 (Pu-238) which will be used as fuel to power future NASA space missions to Pluto and beyond.
The impetues for this program according to the DOE, is for the production of nuclear fuel for batteries to enable satellites and spacecraft to venture into deep space. These “space batteries” provide a sustained energy source by converting heat generated by the nuclear fuel (Pu-238), into electricity.
The arrangement between NASA and the DOE to produce this nuclear power supply would shift the infrastructure of the program from what is now being accomplished at three DOE sites across the country, to a centralized operation at INL. The proposed consolidation of this program would include the production, purification and encapsulation of Plutonium-238 (Pu-238), at a projected cost of about $200 million. The actual costs of building the remaining infrastructure at INL which include a Radioisotope Thermal Electric Generator, new roads, and numerous other component parts, are projected into the further millions.
More specific information and scoping comments of others at the following links:
Scoping Comments (in PDF format) :
KYNF Comments
Concerned Citizens for Nuclear Safety (CCNS) Comments
Environmental Defense Institute Comments
Nuclear Watch of New Mexico Comments
Snake River Alliance Comments
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