Scientific American reports, "The United States has begun producing plutonium-238 again for the first time in a quarter century, marking a key step toward averting a feared shortage of this important spacecraft fuel, NASA officials say."
The Department of Energy (DoE) nuclear labs are in charge of the deadly plutonium expansion program. They tell us it is safe and necessary for deep space missions.
What they don't tell the public is that DoE's history of handling toxic plutonium-238 (the most dangerous substance ever created) is very bad. Countless cases of worker contamination have been reported during previous nuclear space missions. The radioactive substance gets into the air and water systems near the labs where it is handled.
The Global Network began protesting the launching of nuclear materials when Galileo spacecraft was launched in 1989, Ulysses spacecraft in 1990, Cassini space probe in 1997, and a succession of Mars rovers since that time. We will continue to stand against the processing and launching of radioactive space missions now and into the future.
The nuclear industry views space as a new and expanding market for their deadly substance. They envision nuclear powered mining colonies on the Moon, Mars, asteroids and other planetary bodies. Imagine a host of nuclear launches on rockets that blow up from time to time.
In the NASA Environmental Impact Statements (EIS) for these past missions the space agency acknowledged in a worst-case launch accident scenario that a 60-mile radius of Florida could become contaminated as the winds carried the radioactive fallout east to Orlando and Disney World, south to Vero Beach, and north to Daytona Beach. NASA said they'd have to come in and remove all the people; all the animals; all the vegetation; all the buildings; and even one-half inch of topsoil because everything would be radioactive for thousands of years. Imagine that and then remember how our government has done with hurricane disaster relief.
Don't believe the nuclear space hype. It's a dangerous and a ticking time bomb.
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