A scientific breakthrough at the National Nuclear Laboratory in Cumbria could help power future space missions for up to 400 years.

A team of scientists led by the NNL, working with the University of Leicester, have generated electricity from the rare chemical element americium – a by-product of the decay of plutonium which is produced during the operation of nuclear reactors.

The team extracted americium from some of the UK’s plutonium stockpile at Sellafield and used the heat generated from the highly radioactive material to generate enough electrical current to light up a small lightbulb within a special shielded area in NNL’s Central Laboratory.

The NNL said the breakthrough confirms the potential use of americium in radioisotope power systems to aid space missions. 

Heat from americium pellets could be used to power spacecraft heading into deep space – or for challenging environments back on earth – where power sources, such as solar panels, cannot function. 

It would mean that space missions could continue to send back vital images and data back to earth for many decades more than currently possible.

Science minister Chris Skidmore described the breakthrough as “remarkable”.

“It sounds like something from a science fiction film, but it is another brilliant testament to our world leading scientific and university communities and their commitment to keeping the UK at the very frontier of developments in space technology and research for energy requirements in difficult environments,” he said.

“It is on the foundations of such discoveries that we can create the highly skilled jobs of the future, supported through our modern Industrial Strategy and record level of government investment in R&D.”

The technical programme to deliver the “world-first” has been running for several years with funding support from the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy and the UK Space Agency, as part of its ongoing participation in European Space Agency (ESA) programmes.

Essential contributions to the project have come from businesses and organisations including the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority, who permitted the use of plutonium from the UK stockpile.

Tim Tinsley, NNL’s account director for the work, said: “Seeing this lightbulb lit is the culmination of a huge amount of specialist technical work carried out by the teams from NNL and Leicester, working in collaboration with other organisations such as ESA and UK Space Agency. 

“It is great to think that americium can be used in this way, recycling something that is a waste from one industry into a significant asset in another.”

Professor Richard Ambrosi, programme lead at the University of Leicester said: “Radioisotope power sources are an important technology for future European space exploration missions as their use would result in more capable spacecraft, and probes that can access distant, cold, dark and inhospitable environments. This is an important step in achieving these goals.”

Keith Stephenson, the programme lead from ESA for the work, added: “The unrivalled energy density of nuclear power sources enables a whole range of missions that would be otherwise impossible. 

“This successful collaboration between the nuclear and space sectors has created a brand-new capability for Europe and opens the door to a future of ambitious and exciting exploration of our solar system.”