The Nation - News from Oct. 8, 1989

Despite protests from anti-nuclear activists, two nuclear generators were hauled under tight security to the shuttle Atlantis’ launch pad at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, for installation aboard the $1.4-billion Galileo Jupiter probe scheduled for blastoff Thursday. Galileo is powered by a pair of radioisotope thermoelectric generators--RTGs--that convert the heat produced by the radioactive decay of plutonium 238 dioxide into about 570 watts of electricity. The devices have no moving parts and they are built to survive launch accidents intact. Earlier in the day in the nearby town of Cape Canaveral, a handful of anti-nuclear activists carrying signs and wearing gas masks stood on street corners in silent protest. The presence of nuclear generators aboard a space shuttle has generated controversy from groups who fear a plutonium release in the event of a launch disaster.