Why not just dilute the plutonium with something
and use it for reactor fuel?
- All isotopes of plutonium can be used to produce a nuclear detonation.
- Chemical separation can be used to separate Pu from other materials.
- LEU cannot be used to produce a nuclear detonation.
- Making HEU from LEU is a difficult and costly process (isotopic separation).
BACK
- Plutonium has occurred naturally:
- It was formed by the operation of a naturally occurring reactor
in a uranium deposit at Oklo in West Africa some two billion
years ago.
- Except for trace quantities, it is not now found in the earth's
crust.
- It was first isolated as an element in 1941.
- It did not exist in quantity prior to that
time.
BACK
- Half-life is the time it takes for a radioactive
material to lose half of its radioactivity (naturally - through
spontaneous decay).
- Different isotopes have different half-lives.
- Pu-239: 24,390 years
- U-235: 710,000,000 years
BACK
Don't nuclear reactors produce plutonium?
- A typical nuclear power reactor creates about 230 kilograms of plutonium
per year.
- Total world generation of reactor-grade plutonium is about 75 tonnes
per year.
- About 1300 tonnes of plutonium have been produced so far, and 90%
of this remains as spent fuel.
- One kilogram of plutonium can produce sufficient heat to generate
nearly 10 million kilowatt-hours of electricity - sufficient to meet the
needs of over 1,000 households for 3 years.
- Russia intends to use its plutonium as a fuel, burning it in fast
neutron reactors.
BACK