Salon.com News | DOE to resume production of plutonium-238: "The Energy Department is moving to resume production of plutonium-238 as an energy source for spacecraft and some national security activities, because existing supplies will be virtually gone in five years.

The department said a decision on production of plutonium-238, reaffirmed last year, 'will not be revisited' and that production activities should be consolidated at the government's Idaho National Laboratory to increase security."

"Plutonium-238 is not used for nuclear weapons, but its steady, virtually infinite release of heat during decay makes the isotope valuable as a heat source to produce electricity in spacecraft and for some satellites that are unable to rely on the sun as an energy source. It is many times more radioactive than weapons-grade plutonium-239, however, and ingesting a speck can be fatal."

(Via Salon.)