Title: Backgrounder On Plutonium | NRC.gov
Headings: Backgrounder on Plutonium
Backgrounder on Plutonium
January 2020

Content: Pu-239 has a half-life of 24,100 years and Pu-241's half-life is 14.4 years. Substances with shorter half-lives decay more quickly than those with longer half-lives, so they emit more energetic radioactivity. Like any radioactive isotopes, plutonium isotopes transform when they decay. They might become different plutonium isotopes or different elements, such as uranium or neptunium. Many of these "daughter products" are themselves radioactive. Different uses have been found for plutonium. Plutonium-238 has been used to power batteries for some heart pacemakers, as well as provide a long-lived heat source to power NASA space missions. Like uranium, plutonium can also be used to fuel nuclear power plants. This is done in a few countries but not currently in the United States. Today's light water reactors – used to make commercial power in the United States – create plutonium when the uranium in their fuel fissions.