18. Our own Milky Way galaxy has collided twice already, and is headed for a collision with our neighbor, the Andromeda Galaxy M31, 2.9 x 10 6 LY away, in about 3 billion years from now.
43. DOE currently manages only about 3% (in terms of metric tons of heavy metal) of the nation's spent nuclear fuel. The remainder is managed by commercial nuclear utilities. DOE fuel is located at DOE laboratory sites, with small amounts at universities and in foreign countries. Congress has determined that a permanent disposition for spent nuclear fuel is an underground repository. http://nsnfp.inel.gov/whatis4.asp However, a repository is not expected to be available for almost another 20 years .
44. The Idaho Chemical Processing Plant's Irradiated Fuel Storage Facility is an example of an air-cooled, vault-type dry storage facility for spent nuclear fuel. plutonium-239 is fissionable, has a relatively long half-life (24,360 years), and can be readily produced in large quantities in breeder reactors by neutron irradiation of plentiful but nonfissile uranium-238.
51. The power required to lift a small (100 lb.) payload to 100,000 ft. also enables the aircraft to carry much larger (600 lb.) payloads to altitudes up to 70,000 ft., making the Helios platform a versatile UAV. Achieved Record Altitude of 96,863 feet on an almost 17-hour flight. 2001