U.S. lawmakers ironing out the differences between the House and Senate versions of the Department of Energy's 2010 spending bill denied President Barack Obama's request for $30 million to restart domestic production of plutonium-238 (pu-238), a critical material used by NASA in long-lasting nuclear batteries for deep space missions.rnThe U.S. House of Representatives had approved $10 million in July for a pu-238 production restart-the Senate bill provided no funding-but during a Sept. 30 House and Senate legislative conference on the Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies Appropriations Act of 2010, conferees opted for no funding until the administration puts forward a detailed plan for resuming production.
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