On the sidelines of the Farnborough International Space Show, Framatome and Perpetual Atomics have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to study the industrialisation of processing americium into sealed sources for radioisotope power systems (“space batteries”), including radioisotope heater units (RHUs) and radioisotope thermoelectric generators (RTGs).
A radioisotope power system, or space battery, harnesses the decay of radioisotopes to generate heat, which can be used as a heat source or converted into electricity. Americium-241, with a half-life of approximately 430 years, is particularly well-suited for long-duration space missions. This collaboration aims to scale up the production and manufacturing of these critical power systems to support future space exploration efforts.
Dr. Kason Bala, Chief Commercial Officer, UK Defence and Space at Framatome Ltd, stated: “We are delighted to collaborate with Perpetual Atomics to jointly pioneer the further development of nuclear power technology, pushing new frontiers in enabling deep space exploration. The partnership forges Perpetual Atomics’ cutting-edge technology in radioisotope nuclear power systems with Framatome’s global nuclear pedigree in production-scale industrialisation.”
Professor Richard Ambrosi, Chief Scientific Officer, founder, and Director of Perpetual Atomics added: “The UK and Europe host a large inventory of americium, and this combined with the technology maturity, know-how, and industrial capability to scale production and manufacturing establishes an important foundation for the UK and European Space Agency (ESA) programmes. Perpetual Atomics looks forward to working closely with Framatome to develop industrialisation solutions for radioisotope power systems at scale.”
This partnership with Perpetual Atomics brings together Framatome’s unmatched manufacturing expertise and regulatory compliance experience in the nuclear sector with Perpetual Atomics’ two decades of development in radioisotope power systems, led by the Space Nuclear Power group at the University of Leicester. Framatome Space and Framatome Ltd will be supporting the UK and ESA’s lunar and Mars mission programmes planned for the latter part of this decade.
