Development of nuclear batteries to power spacecraft from nuclear waste

Development of nuclear batteries to power spacecraft from nuclear waste: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cumbria-19550658 ..."Chemists at Britain's National Nuclear Laboratory (NNL) plan to make the batteries using Sellafield's large store of waste plutonium.
The batteries could then be used as a power supply for the European Space Agency's (ESA) spacecraft.
As well as the new jobs, this project could accrue significant UK multi-million pound exports.
In 2009, ESA funded a pilot project to examine the cost and practicality of establishing a European source of material for Radioactive Power Sources (RPS).
RPSs are ultra-long life batteries for use in the ESA's deep space programme.
The RPS batteries are not to launch the spacecraft, but to keep instruments running over several decades. "