This is from an anti group urging negative comments. They "urge the DOE and NASA to develop alternative non-radioactive technologies for space exploration" without giving any hint of what that might be.... some sort of Karma power, no doubt ?

PUBLIC COMMENTS NEEDED FOR DOE/NASA PLAN TO EXPAND NUCLEAR POWER IN SPACE

SUMMARY: http://consolidationeis.doe.gov/

The Department of Energy (DOE) announced its intent to prepare an
environmental impact statement (EIS) for the proposed consolidation of
nuclear activities related to production of radioisotope power systems (RPS)
required for Government national security and space exploration missions at a
single, highly secure DOE site.  (Currently, DOE's ongoing RPS-related
production operations are located at three DOE sites in Idaho, New Mexico and Tennessee.)

The nuclear infrastructure required to produce RPS is comprised of three
major components: (1) The production of Plutonium-238; (2) the purification
and encapsulation of Pu-238 into a fuel form; and (3) the assembly, testing,
and delivery of the RPS to NASA and the Pentagon.

The RPS is the newest technology for deep-space missions.  The Pu-238 in
these units serves as the source for generating heat and electricity.  The
heat source can be used directly to warm critical spacecraft components.
NASA claims that solar will not work in deep space but critics have long
maintained that alternative space technologies, if research and development
was undertaken, could be produced.

WRITTEN COMMENTS:

DOE invites public comments on this EIS. The public comment period concludes
on January 31, 2005.  We encourage people who live outside the U.S. to also
send comments.

Comments or suggestions on the EIS, questions concerning the proposed action,
and requests to be placed on the EIS distribution list may be directed to:

  Timothy A. Frazier
  NE-50/Germantown Building
  Office of Space and Defense Power Systems
  U.S. Department of Energy
  1000 Independence Avenue, SW
  Washington, DC 20585-1290
  Telephone: 301-903-9420    Fax (800) 919-3765
  E-mail to ConsolidationEIS@nuclear.energy.gov

KEY POINTS TO MAKE: (Please use your own words)

1)  DOE historically has a bad track record of ecosystem contamination during
the plutonium production, purification, assembly, and testing process.  The
expansion of this process will likely create more negative ecosystem impacts.

2)  DOE has shown disregard for the public health and safety during the
treatment, storage and disposal of plutonium waste, often contaminating local
water supplies.

3)  During the nuclear generator production process for the NASA Cassini
mission over 244 cases of worker contamination were reported at Los Alamos
Labs in New Mexico (between 1994-1996).  DOE has consistently shown their
inability to protect worker health and safety.

4)  This EIS is being generated because NASA and DOE are undertaking a major
expansion of launching nuclear power into space in the coming years.  Recent
disclosures about internal NASA tendencies to take short cuts on rocket
safety makes the possibility of launch accidents and major environmental
contamination of launch areas more likely.

5)  The enormous cost of producing, assembling and launching highly
radioactive nuclear materials into space cannot be justified when the nation
has a major fiscal crisis.  Cutbacks in education, health care, environmental
clean-up and other social programs will be necessary to pay for the expansion
of nuclear power for space missions.

6)  In previous environmental impact statements NASA and DOE have
acknowledged that a launch accident could result in massive contamination of
significant land areas with nuclear materials.

7)  For all these reason we call on DOE and NASA to suspend all plans and
operations to produce, purify, assemble, test, and launch plutonium.
Instead, we urge the DOE and NASA to develop alternative non-radioactive
technologies for space exploration.

Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space
PO Box 652
Brunswick, ME 04011
(207) 729-0517
(207) 319-2017 (Cell phone)
globalnet@mindspring.com
http://www.space4peace.org