I researched plutonium powered radioisotope thermoelectric generators (RTG)
for the book chapter 2. As far as I know, there have only been ~24 US
spacecraft equipped with RTG, and telecom satellites are not among them.
See, for example this document, written in 1984:
http://science.howstuffworks.com/framed.htm?parent=question136.htm&url=http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/galileo/messenger/oldmess/RTGs.html
And this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radioisotope_thermoelectric_generators
As noted here, the Apollo 13 RTG was supposed to be left on the moon, but
the vehicle reentered and burned up over Fiji. The RTG remained intact and
ended up in the Tonga trench in the Pacific Ocean. (How they found it I
cannot imagine.)
Ed Storms is an expert on this subject.
- Jed
